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PAMPHLETS 


ON 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 


vol 


i_i  J  n/-.  H  I     \J  I 


Massacliiisett^  i?:r]ci]]tr.nl  College, 

AMHERST.    MASS, 

^he  ]^ui[al  (ghuiteh 
and  the  Jpartmeit. 


MOIRA,   N.   Y. 
MATTHEW  H.  DOWD 


Methodist  Episcopal  Cliurcli,  Moira,  N.  Y. 


Zbc  IRural  Cburcb 

anb  the  ^farmer 


Copyright,  1912, 
Matthew  H.  Dowel 


Endorsed,  and  publication  authorized 

by  St.  Lawrence  District  Conference 

March  12th.  1912 


Published  by  Matthew  H.  Dowd 
Chairman  Committee  on  District  Evangelism 

Moira,  N.  Y. 
Price  per  copy  25c  (coin).     Five  copies  |i, 00 


Xk^  Rural  (Jl^urct)  and  tt)e  Farmer 


CHAPTER  I. 

A  Preachment. 


The  editor  of  the  American  Review  of 
Reviews  in  the  issue  of  March,  19 12, 
writing  on  "The  Church's  Need  of 
the  Efficiency  Engineer,"  states  :  "Huxley 
once  characterized  science  as  trained  and 
organized  common  sense.  Recently  the 
business  man  is  having  his  common 
sense  organized  and  trained  to  work  in 
ways  similar  to  those  of  science ;  and  be- 
yond the  field  of  business  into  which  the 
scientfiic  method  is  now  pressing  writes 
Dr.  Samuel  Dike  in  the  American  Jour- 
nal of  Theology  (Chicago)  lies  still  an- 
other which  it  must  of  necessity  soon 
enter." 

Dr.  Dike  says :  "The  scientific  method 
has  long  been  at  work  in  biblical  study 
and  theology,  *  *  *  but  strange  to 
say  it  has  made  little  progress  in  the  kin- 
dred study  of  Church  organization  *  * 
but  no  one  who  reflects  on  the  subject 
can  fail  to  see  that  the  same  motives  that 


have  driven  us  to  a  large  use  of  the 
scientific  method  in  matters  of  religious 
thought,  will  inevitably  compel  us  to  take 
it  with  us  into  the  problems  of  practical 
religious  work."  The  Dr.  adds :  "Men 
of  affairs  accustomed  to  methodical  sys- 
tems by  which  they  have  the  oversight 
of  their  own  business  easily  arranged; 
and  carefully  distributed;  do  not  lift  a 
finger  to  secure  like  efficiency  in  their 
own  churches." 

This  is  particularly  true  in  the  work 
of  the  rural  church;  there  is  little  or  no 
concentrated  effort  and  no  understanding 
between  the  churches  in  neighboring  vil- 
lages as  to  what  part  of  the  rural  districts 
each  shall  be  responsible  for  in  their 
ministry  to  the  community.  There  is 
cause  for  rejoicing  because  of  the  interest 
in  the  social  and  religious  life  of  our 
rural  communities  by  those  who  lead  in 
the  study  of  agriculture.  A  notable  in- 
stance of  this  is  the  work  done  in  the 
annual  conferences  on  the  "Rural 
Church,"  held  during  Farmers'  Week  by 
the  agricultural  college  at  Ithaca.  The 
addresses  at  these  conferences  have  been 
of  a  high  order,  but  the  best  thing  in 
connection  with  the  work  is  the  recogni- 
tion of  the  fact  that  the  social  life  of  the 
farmer  is  not  complete  when  it  is  di- 
vorced from  the  church ;  or  perhaps  more 
properly  from  the  religion  of  Christ  for 


which  the  church  stands.  Man  is  both  a 
religious  and  a  social  creature.  He  cannot 
be  at  his  best  if  he  neglects  the  things 
that  have  to  do  with  completeness  in  his 
soul. 

The  social  life  always  involves  the 
thought  of  self-denial  and  vicarious  sacri- 
fice. Jesus  came  to  magnify  in  his  own 
life  both  the  religious  and  social  elements 
in  the  life  of  man.  Socially,  one  of  the 
earliest  acts  of  his  ministry  was  to  mirac- 
ulously increase  the  happiness  of  the  so- 
cial hour  at  a  wedding.  In  his  teaching 
he  spoke  of  our  filial  relationship  to  God 
and  reminded  his  followers  that  their 
fraternal  relationship  to  mankind  was 
second  only  to  that ;  and  it  was  always 
to  equal  the  desire  for  self-comfort  and 
happiness.  This  being  the  case  the  de- 
velopment of  man  is  not  to  be  apart  from 
his  God  or  from  his  fellows. 

It  seems  to  be  generally  conceded  that 
in  a  large  measure  aloofness  has  taken 
place  in  the  rural  districts  of  our  coun- 
try, however,  it  must  be  said  that  such 
a  condition  has  come  to  pass  not  because 
the  country  people  have  lost  confidence 
in  the  church  ;  but  for  some  other  rea- 
son. Rare  indeed  are  the  cases  where 
sickness  and  death  enter  the  home,  that 
the  family  do  not  turn  to  the  church  for 
sympathy,  aid,  and  comfort.  The  fact  is 
that  while  they  appreciate  the  service  the 


church  can  render,  they  have  commercial- 
ized their  relation  to  it  just  as  they  have 
their  relation  to  the  grocery  store;  that 
is  they  purchase  what  they  want;  and 
pay  only  for  what  they  get;  and  have 
no  interest  in  it  beyond  that. 

A  gift  to  the  pastor,  who  has  called  on 
the  sick,  and  in  case  of  death  conducted 
the  funeral,  hardly  approaches  the  con- 
duct outlined  by  the  teaching  of  Jesus. 
If  all  the  people  should  follow  this  ex- 
ample the  church  of  Christ  would  cease 
to  exist  because  the  spirit  of  Christ  would 
have  no  place  in  the  human  heart. 

During  a  ministry  covering  a  score  of 
years  the  writer  has  talked  with  many 
people  of  this  class  and  almost  invariably 
they  state  that  their  alienation  is  caused 
mainly  by  the  fact  that  so  many  church 
members  claiming  to  believe  in  the  church 
and  its  mission,  are  so  niggardly  in  fin- 
ancial support  of  its  work.  However,  so 
far  as  our  knowledge  goes  there  is  no 
difference  God's  call  to  service  is  the 
same  to  each ;  and  the  right  way  to  have 
a  harvest,  whether  spiritual,  or  material, 
is  to  bring  all  the  tithes  into  the  store- 
house. The  business  of  the  church  and 
the  unchurched  is  to  get  together  for  the 
common  good. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Who  Is  To  Blame  f 


The  rural  church  is  not  blameless  nor 
does  it  claim  to  be ;  and  it  has  to  its  credit 
the  fact  that  it  is  awakening  to  a  sense 
of  neglect ;  and  making  an  honest  effort 
to  improve  conditions  in  its  own  peculiar 
field.  In  the  midst  of  changing  conditions 
it  is  feeling  its  way  but  must  not  much 
longer  disregard  the  call  to  immediate  ac- 
tion; because  of  the  irreligious  condition 
of  rural  communities,  that  are  but  slight- 
ly remote  from  our  villages. 

We  hear  a  clamorous  call  for  activity 
on  the  part  of  the  church.  God  grant  that 
it  may  soon  be  seen,  and  its  influence  felt. 
But  may  it  not  be  true  that  the  church 
has  been  lacking  in  emotion.  It  seems 
probable  that  there  has  been  too  little 
preaching  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  L.  G.  Broughton  in  his  book,  'The 
Revival  of  a  Dead  Church/'  writes,  ''If 
we  eliminate  all  the  supernatural  from 
our  religion  and  our  religious  experience, 
as  many  are  wont  to  do  ;  we  simply  reduce 
religion  to  a  mere  cold  lifeless  philosophy 
which  would  be  very  little  better  than 
that  of  Confucious  or  other  teachers."  I 
do  not  mean  that  shallow  feeling  "which 


lacks  the  correlate  of  conduct;  that  hu- 
man nature  often  assumes  so  readily; 
which  sometimes  leads  to  the  grossest 
fanaticism ;  but  rather  the  kind  "which  is 
directed  toward  right  living,"  that  comes 
to  thoughtful  and  devout  believers ;  who 
study  to  see  the  deep  things  of  salvation ; 
and  whose  hearts  become  animated  with 
those  profound  feelings,  which  kindled 
by  Divine  Fire,  and  fanned  by  a  holy  en- 
thusiasm, urges  us  to  the  task  of  redeem- 
ing a  race."  Might  we  not  know  an  emo- 
tion; that  born  of  faith  in  God;  and 
moved  with  Christ-like  compassion; 
would  cause  us  with  heaving  bosom  and 
trembling  lips,  to  cry  out  it  must  be  done. 

The  Rev.  J.  G.  Patton,  D.  D.  writing 
to  one  of  the  religious  journals  enquiries : 

''Has  the  ministry  grown  insipid,  in- 
ane? Has  it  lost  its  savor?  From  some 
of  the  criticisms  found  in  popuar  litera- 
ture, one  might  conclude  that  such  is  the 
case  with  many  ministers.  They,  accord- 
ing to  their  critics,  have  lost  their  grace, 
their  grit  and  their  grip.  This  ''legion" 
(we  are  not  sure  that  we  can  call  them 
legion)  has  had  no  high  ideals  of  their 
ministry.  They  have  not  had  a  vision  of 
sin  in  the  world.  No  more  have  they  be- 
held the  glory  of  redemption.  Some  may 
have  entered  the  ministry  with  high 
hopes,  but  have  had  hard  places  and  have 
battled  by  themselves  without  the  aid  of 


Almighty  God,  and  have  been  worsted. 
They  have  allowed  their  defeat  to  dis- 
courage and  break  down  their  spiritual 
ambition.  They  are  contented  to  let  the 
world  take  the  church;  and  are  discon- 
tented with  their  own  chosen  calling. 

''The  real  ministry  has  not  lost  its 
place  in  the  world  and  never  will.  So 
long  as  sin  and  suffering  by  sin  endure, 
so  long  will  the  ministry  be  needed.  Till 
the  flood  gates  of  hell  are  closed  the 
church  will  have  a  warfare — both  of  of- 
fensive and  defensive. 

"Heroic  men  must  enter  the  ministry. 
Their  heroism  must  grow  as  they  grow 
in  years  of  experience. 

"The  warfare  of  the  church  of  the 
present  day  is  as  strenuous  as  in  any  day 
of  the  past.  A  godless  commercialism 
and  materialism  creeps  over  the  people  of 
God  and  invades  the  public  sanctuary. 
Vast  armies  of  men  are  too  tired  to  go 
to  church  and  too  indifferent  to  pray. 
Their  load  is  a  heavy  one,  and  in  our 
greed  for  money  that  load  may  grow 
heavier.  If  men  who  are  too  tired  to 
go  to  God's  house  to  pray,  would  spend 
the  hour  of  public  service  in  their  own 
private  rooms  praying  to  God  in  secret, 
the  Church  of  Christ  would  not  suffer  so 
much  and  the  souls  of  these  men  would 
not  be  in  such  danger  of  drying  up. 

"But  greed  and  mammon  are  not  the 


only  foes  the  minister  of  to-day  has  to 
battle  against.  There  are  a  myriad  of 
foes — all  alert  and  ready  to  stand  in  the 
way  of  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth. 
These  foes  are  to  be  found  everywhere, 
in  the  city  and  in  the  country.  We  are 
appalled  at  the  awful  sins  of  Africa.  We 
ought  to  sit  in  sack-cloth  and  ashes  at 
the  sins  in  Christian  America  and  in  our 
very  churches  sometimes. 

'The  man  who  takes  up  this  work  of 
the  ministry  will  find  an  enemy  well 
worthy  of  his  highest  ideal  and  strongest 
nerve  force.  No  matter  where  he  chooses 
his  field,  he  will  need  to  be  courageous. 
If  he  goes  to  the  country  to  take  charge 
of  a  country  field  run  down  and  out  by 
the  going  away  of  many  of  the  old  and 
respectable  church  families,  he  will  there 
find  a  field  where  courage,  real  courage, 
is  needed  as  much  as  if  he  had  chosen  a 
parish  in  China.  In  speaking  to  a  re- 
turned missionary  from  China,  the  writer 
found  that  the  missionary  thought  the 
work  of  the  ministry  here  in  America 
was  just  as  hard  as  it  was  in  China. 
One's  physical  life  is  not  so  much  in 
danger  here  in  America  as  in  China,  but 
his  spiritual  life  may  be  in  more  danger. 
He  is  a  hero  who  will  battle  against  his 
own  inner  spiritual  foes. 

"The  country  church  offers  a  fertile 
field  for  heroic  effort.     The  young  man 


who  will  devote  himself  to  a  country  field 
with  the  expectation  of  making  that  his 
life-work  and  who  is  determined  to  build 
up  the  church  and  make  it  the  center  of 
religious  life  for  the  community  is  as 
much  of  a  hero  and  patriot  as  the  man 
who  goes  to  a  foreign  field.  It  will  require 
high  courage  and  consummate  wisdom  to 
meet  his  daily  problems.  This  country 
pastor  will  train  members  for  city  church- 
es. He  will  train  foreign  missionaries. 
From  his  sowing  the  future  ministry  will 
reap  rich  harvests." 

In  a  recent  issue  of  The  Christian 
Work  and  Evangelist,  the  editor  inquires 
*Ts  the  failure  all  with  the  church  ?"  He 
writes : 

''Thus  everywhere  one  is  hearing  of 
the  failure  of  the  Church  to  meet  the 
problems  of  modern  life.  And  the  blame 
is  almost  always  put  upon  the  Church. 
One  critic  after  another  is  shouting  to 
her,  Why  do  you  not  adjust  yourself  to 
the  new  day?  Why  do  you  not  adapt 
yourself  to  the  people  who  pass  you  by? 
Why  do  you  not  awaken  out  of  your 
lethargy?  Why  not  bestir  yourself  and 
conceive  again  a  great  revival  of  religion? 
From  every  quarter  the  blame  of  the  ap- 
parent failure  is  put  upon  the  Church. 

"But  is  the  failure  all  with  the  Church? 
May  it  not  be  that  the  failure  is  more  with 
the  people  than  the  Church  ?    May  it  not 


be  that  it  is  the  same  old  story  of  the 
Gospels,  where  Jesus  failed  because  of 
the  unbelief  of  the  people?  He  could 
not  succeed,  do  all  he  might,  because  of 
the  unbelief  of  the  multitude.  We  be- 
lieve that  never  in  any  period  of  the 
world's  history  was  the  Church  making 
more  earnest  effort  than  it  is  to-day  both 
to  reach  the  people  and  to  build  the  king- 
dom of  God.  Men  never  preached  the 
real  Gospel  more  earnestly.  In  half  a 
million  churches  next  Sunday  Jesus 
Christ  will  be  truly  preached.  There 
never  was  so  devoted  and  passionate  hu- 
manitarianism  manifested  than  the 
Church  to-day  is  exercising.  Never  has 
the  Church  shown  such  enthusiasm  for 
the  kingdom  of  God  in  the  world.  But 
how  can  the  preacher  move  men  if  they 
care  nothing  for  hearing  the  Gospel? 
How  can  the  Church  work  miracles  if  in 
all  the  people  there  is  a  deadening  unbe- 
lief ?  How  can  the  Church  build  the  city 
of  God  if  the  people  prefer  Vanity  Fair  ? 
Let  us  be  frank  about  this  whole  mat- 
ter. Is  it  altogether  the  blame  of  the 
Church  that  Christ  is  failing  to-day  ?  May 
it  not  be  that  it  is  because  the  people  do 
not  want  the  Church  nor  its  Gospel  nor 
its  abundant  life!"  He  concludes:  '*We 
get  a  little  tired  of  all  this  talk  about  the 
Church  adapting  her  message  and  her 
methods  to  the  people  as  tho  that  were 


all.  Where  no  religious  faculty  is  left  a 
perfect  Church  labors  in  vain,  just  as 
a  perfect  Christ  could  do  nothing  before 
unbelief.  A  believing  people  would  soon 
discover  a  miracle  working  church.  To  a 
people  who  desire  Christ  he  will  quickly 
manifest  himself  in  glory.  There  is  much 
talk  about  adjusting  the  Church  to  the 
people.  This  is  well  and  good.  But  how 
would  it  do  to  talk  a  little  more  about 
adjusting  the  people  to  the  Church?" 

The  residents  of  our  rural  districts 
have  a  responsibility  toward  the  Church. 
God  calls  them  to  serve  him,  as  surely  as 
he  calls  any  one  now  in  his  Church.  Nor 
can  they  without  hurt  to  themselves  shirk 
from  a  strict  performance  of  their  duty 
toward  their  neighbor. 

Prof.  Starratt  says,  "The  farmers  of 
the  land  as  individuals  are  not  degener- 
ates nor  are  they  less  religious  than  the 
farmer  of  the  past  in  the  days  of  the  glory 
of  the  country  church.  He  is  still  human 
and  humanity  wherever  you  find  it  is  re- 
ligious. *  *  *  *  He  (the  farmer)  is 
too  individualistic  and  seems  to  have  lost 
or  has  failed  to  develop  the  power  of  or- 
ganization." 

Our  village  churches  for  some  years 
have  been  busy  with  the  struggle  for  a 
bare  existence,  many  of  our  young  people 
leave  us  for  the  city  and  the  old  "pillars" 
of  the  church  are  dying.    Congregations 


become  pitifully  small  and  many  are  dis- 
couraged so  that  in  the  midst  of  perplex-, 
ity  the  needy  neighbor  has  been  forgot- 
ten. We  recall  the  fact  that  when  Job 
forgot  his  own  trouble;  and  in  his 
anxiety  for  his  friends,  interceded  with 
God  for  them;  then  the  Lord  delivered 
Job.  May  it  not  be  that  the  church  has 
been  so  absorbed  with  internal  problems, 
that  the  range  of  vision  has  been  so  nar- 
rowed that  external  needs  and  problems 
have  been  lost  to  the  sight ;  and  is  it  not 
just  possible  that  its  depleted  ranks 
would  have  been  filled,  if  there  had  been 
a  consuming  passion  for  the  deliverance 
of  those  who  suffered  on  the  outside? 

It  cannot  be  that  the  rural  pastor  is 
entirely  blameless;  and  yet  it  is  possible 
that  he  is  more  to  blame,  because  he  has 
failed  in  promoting  proper  organization 
of  the  forces  about  him,  than  in  lack  of 
effort,  for  the  rural  pastor  is  usually  a 
hard- worker.  He  must  take  the  initiative, 
and  if  any  construction  work  in  the  re- 
ligious or  social  life  is  to  be  done,  he  has 
to  be  the  man  of  the  hour. 

He  has  his  discouragements  too. 
Some  time  ago  the  "Standard"  (Baptist, 
Chicago)  published  part  of  a  letter,  writ- 
ten by  a  discouraged  pastor,  who  was 
obliged  to  quit  the  calling,  because  of  in- 
sufficient support.  Writing  an  old  col- 
lege friend: 


"He  says  he  has  found  *not  a  few  earn- 
est, unselfish,  consecrated  Qiristians/ 
and  thinks  he  is  'not  especially  morbid  or 
unfair'  in  his  estimate.    But — 

"  'Through  all  these  years  a  conviction 
has  been  growing  within  me  that  the  av- 
erage church-member  cares  precious  lit- 
tle about  the  kingdom  of  God  and  its  ad- 
vancement, or  the  welfare  of  his  fellow 
men.  He  is  a  Christian  in  order  that  he 
may  save  his  soul  from  hell,  and  for  no 
other  reason.  He  does  as  little  as  he  can, 
lives  as  indifferently  as  he  dares.  If  he 
though  he  could  gain  heaven  without  ev- 
en lifting  his  finger  for  others,  he  would 
jump  at  the  chance.  Never  have  I  known 
more  than  a  small  minority  of  any  church 
which  I  have  served  to  be  really  interest- 
ed in  and  unselfishly  devoted  to  God's 
work.  It  took  my  whole  time  to  pull  and 
push  and  urge  and  persuade  the  reluctant 
members  of  my  church  to  undertake  a 
little  something  for  their  fellow  men. 
They  took  a  covenant  to  be  faithful  in 
attendance  upon  the  services  of  the 
church,  and  not  one  out  of  ten  ever 
thought  of  attending  prayer-meeting.  A 
large  percentage  seldom  attended  church 
in  the  morning,  and  a  pitifully  small 
number  in  the  evening.  It  did  not  seem 
to  mean  anything  to  them  that  they  had 
dedicated  themselves  to  the  service  of 
Christ. 


"I  am  tired ;  tired  of  being  the  only  one 
in  the  church  from  whom  real  sacrifice  is 
expected ;  tired  of  straining  and  tugging 
to  get  Christian  people  to  live  like  Chris- 
tians ;  tired  of  planning  work  for  my  peo- 
ple and  then  being  compelled  to  do  it  my- 
self or  see  it  left  undone ;  tired  of  dodg- 
ing my  creditors  when  I  would  not  need 
to  if  I  had  what  is  due  me ;  tired  of  the 
affrighting  vision  of  a  penniless  old  age. 
I  am  not  leaving  Christ.  I  love  him.  I 
shall  still  try  to  serve  him." 

It  would  seem  that  the  church,  the  min- 
istry, and  the  people,  ought  to  acknowl- 
edge their  fault  and  get  together  to  work 
for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  common 
good. 


CHAPTER  III. 


The  Country   Church,  A  Statement  of 
Conditions. 


By  Prof.  F.  A.  Starratt,  Hamilton  Theo- 
logical Seminary. 


That  there  is  a  problem  of  the  rural 
church  or  a  rural  problem  of  any  kind, 
seems  to  many  strange  indeed.  That 
there  should  be  a  city  problem,  is  no  more 
than  is  to  be  expected,  for  do  not  all  the 
evil  and  troublous  things  flock  into  the 
city?  That  they  should  arise  there,  out 
of  the  unnatural  crowding  together  of  all 
kinds  of  people,  is  not  at  all  strange,  but 
that  the  country  should  offer  problems 
to  be  solved  is  altogether  out  of  the  na- 
ture of  things.  W'e  have  always  thought 
of  the  people  of  the  open  country  as  the 
backbone  of  the  nation,  the  source  of  all 
its  strength  and  sweetness.  Do  we  ever 
fail  to  remember  that  it  was  the  farmers 
of  Lexington  who  started  the  conflict  that 
brought  us  liberty  ?  Do  we  not  constant- 
ly recount  the  fact  that  all  the  good  and 
great  of  church  and  state  have  come  from 
the  farm  ?    With  this  traditional  ideal  of 


the  country  before  us  it  is  difficult  to  ad- 
just ourselves  to  the  thought  of  a  really 
serious  rural  problem,  especially  one  in- 
volving moral  and  religious  factors.  And 
yet  there  is  a  rural  problem  and  there  is 
a  very  pressing  problem  of  the  rural 
church.  This  fact  may  be  brought  to 
our  attention  in  various  ways.  There  is 
one  fact,  however,  that  brings  it  before 
us  in  a  concrete  way,  and  forces  us  to 
take  it  seriously. 

It  may  be  stated  in  a  word;  a  very 
small  percentage  of  the  farmers  of  the 
land  are  in  the  habit  of  attending  re- 
ligious services  of  any  kind.  Organized 
Christianity  is  fast  losing  its  hold  upon 
the  farming  population  of  America.  This 
is  true  even  of  our  own  state  of  New 
York. 

As  a  result  of  the  examination  of  the 
reports  of  the  country  and  village  church- 
es of  six  Baptist  Associations  in  the 
state  of  New  York,  it  was  discovered 
that  they  had  lost  twelve  per  cent,  in 
membership  during  the  last  ten  years. 
The  gain  in  membership  made  by  this 
denomination,  during  this  period,  was 
made  in  the  cities  and  large  towns.  In 
the  country  the  church  had  failed  to 
keep  pace  with  the  population.  Reports 
from  thirty-two  rural  communities  in 
the  state  show  that  less  than  twenty-nine 
per  cent,  of  the  population  belong  to  any 


church.  A  careful  examination  of  fifty- 
three  such  communities  in  Pennsylvania, 
shows  a  little  better  proportion  of 
church  members,  forty-two  percent,  but 
only  twenty-nine  per  cent,  could  be  count- 
ed as  church  attendants.  A  personal  in- 
vestigation of  a  section  of  rural  Vermont, 
showed  an  alarming  falling  off  of  church 
attendance  even  where  there  was  no  such 
proportionate  decrease  in  membership. 
The  same  general  condition  of  things  is 
revealed  in  an  examination  of  a  consid- 
erable country  district  of  Missouri,  which 
was  conducted  with  great  thoroughness 
by  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Home  Mis- 
sions. 

Nor  do  these  facts  give  the  full  signif- 
icance of  the  situation  so  far  as  the  farm- 
er is  concerned,  for  included  in  the 
studies  are  many  towns  and  villages  of 
five  hundred  and  in  some  cases  up  to 
twenty-five  hundred  people.  Often  there 
will  be  a  strong  and  prosperous  village 
church,  surrounded  by  a  large  farming 
community  that  is  practically  untouched 
by  the  church  influence,  very  few  of  the 
farmers  driving  into  the  village  for  pub- . 
lie  worship.  The  empty  horse  sheds  re- 
veal the  fact  that  the  village  church  is 
losing  its  hold  upon  the  fanner.  It  is  be- 
coming ever  more  apparent  that  the  pure- 
ly rural  church  is  in  a  weak  and  unhappy 
condition.     It   would  be  superfluous  to 


continue  to  mass  evidence  as  to  the  con- 
dition of  the  rural  church  in  regard  to 
membership  and  attendance.  The  result 
of  all  study  of  the  matter  point  to  the 
one  conclusion,  that  the  country  church 
is  losing  ground,  failing  to  meet  its  obli- 
gations and  facing  a  crisis  in  its  history. 
This  statement  of  the  surface  fact  does 
not,  however,  make  the  situation  clear, 
nor  reveal  the  actual  condition.  One 
could  conclude  that  the  farmer  is  becom- 
ing degenerate  and  that  he  is  no  longer 
accessible  to  the  Gospel  or  responsive  to 
the  appeal  of  religion.  Or  one  might  ex- 
plain the  fact  by  saying  that  religion  is 
losing  its  power,  that  with  the  advanc- 
ing civilization,  man  is  learning  to  get 
along  without  religion.  The  latter  ex- 
planation is  refuted  by  the  increase  of 
religion  throughout  the  country  general- 
ly, and  by  the  renewed  interest  being 
awakened  in  practical  religious  move- 
ments. The  former  explanation  cannot 
be  accepted  by  any  one  who  knows  the 
farmer  as  he  is.  The  farmers  of  the 
land,  as  individuals,  are  not  degenerates 
nor  are  they  any  less  religious  than  the 
farmer  of  the  past  in  the  days  of  the 
glory  of  the  country  church.  He  is  still 
human  and  humanity  wherever  you  find 
it  is  religious.  The  American  farmer  is 
not  immune  to  religious  influences,  nor  is 
he  less  intelligent  than  his  predecessors. 


It  is  true  that  there  has  been  a  progress 
of  selection  going  on  in  the  farming 
community  for  many  years  but  it  is  not 
evident  that  the  resuh  has  been  what  it 
is  often  supposed  to  be.  In  the  Eastern 
states  two  voices  have  sounded  in  the 
ears  of  the  young  people  on  the  farm ; 
the  voice  of  the  new  West  and  the  voice 
of  the  city.  Many  have  obeyed  these 
calls.  Some  have  chosen  to  go,  some 
have  elected  to  remain.  Sometimes  it  has 
been  the  resolute  and  ambitious  who  have 
been  drawn  away,  sometimes  it  has 
been  the  shiftless  and  unsuccessful. 
\\'hile  it  is  a  matter  that  cannot  be  dem- 
onstrated, yet  it  is  not  clear  altogether, 
that  the  individuals  who  have  remained 
are  not,  in  point  of  native  equipment  the 
equals  of  those  who  left,  take  them  as 
they  run. 

The  development  of  the  two  classes 
has,  however,  been  different  to  say  the 
least.  The  rural  section  of  the  country 
has  not  kept  pace  with  the  city  in  its 
social  development.  The  city,  in  its  de- 
velopment as  a  community,  has  forged 
ahead,  leaving  the  country  behind.  This, 
however,  may  not  be  due,  as  is  often  as- 
siuned,  to  the  fact  that  the  individual  in 
the  city  is  so  much  more  highly  endowed 
than  his  country  brother.  We  are  com- 
ing to  realize  that  environment  has  more 
to  do  with  the  development  of  the  indi- 


vidual  than  we  had  supposed.  And  it 
seems  to  be  true  that  the  change  that 
comes  over  the  country  boy  when  he  goes 
to  the  city  is  due  to  the  environment  into 
which  he  goes  rather  than  to  the  fact 
that  he  is  made  of  better  stuff  than  the 
fellow  who  chooses  to  stay  on  the 
farm.  The  decadence  of  the  country 
community  and  of  the  country  church  is 
not  due  to  the  fact  that  there  is  not  good 
upon  them  by  the  various  movements  of 
the  past  years.  With  the  introduction  of 
natural  material  in  the  country,  but  due  to 
the  conditions  that  have  been  forced  by 
machinery  and  the  consequent  revolution 
in  the  industrial  world,  the  centralization 
of  m.anufacturing,  the  bringing  together 
of  great  masses  of  people,  there  arose  a 
soicial  condition  that  at  once  attracted 
attention,  and  has  held  the  attention  of 
the  whole  country  ever  since.  It  has  not 
been  the  achievements  of  the  city  alone 
that  has  won  for  it  this  attention  it  has 
been  in  large  measure,  the  troubles  of  the 
city,  its  unsolved  problems,  its  threat- 
ened dangers.  But  whatever  the  cause, 
the  fact  is  that  the  attention  of  the  peo- 
ple has  been  focused  on  the  city.  Its  so- 
cial problem  was  a  concentrated  one,  and 
one  that  demanded  immediate  action,  so 
that  the  best  thought  of  the  world  has 
been  engaged  upon  its  solution.  Ques- 
tions having  to  do  with  the  great  com- 


mercial  and  industrial  centers  have 
monopolized  the  thought  of  the  great 
masses  of  the  people.  During  all  this 
time  the  farmer  has  been  living  quietly 
upon  the  land.  He  has  had  his  troubles 
also,  but  because  these  troubles  were 
widely  distributed  and  did  not  lead  to  any 
serious  disorders,  they  received  little  or 
no  attention.  In  fact  his  own  mind  was 
continually  being  drawn  away  to  the  city 
questions.  His  newspaper  brought  him 
chiefly  news  of  his  city  brother,  and  the 
city  man's  troubles  were  kept  ever  before 
him  and  his  own  seemed  small  in  com- 
parison with  those,  which  though  affect- 
ing in  the  aggregate,  a  less  number  of 
people,  yet  because  of  being  concentrat- 
ed in  a  narrower  compass  seemed  larger 
and  more  important.  As  a  consequence, 
the  city  has  advanced  rapidly,  in  the  past 
years,  in  the  understanding  of  its  social 
duties  and  responsibilities,  while  the 
farmer  has  made  practically  no  steps 
toward  the  solution  of  his  equally  im- 
portant though  less  spectacular  problem 
of  social  life.  During  the  past  ten  years 
the  farmer  has  made  progress  financially, 
he  is  making  money,  and  as  an  individual 
he  is  bringing  into  his  life  some  of  the 
better  things  that  belong  to  the  modern 
world,  but  the  social  condition  of  the 
community  in  which  he  lives  has  made 
no   advancement   but   has    rather    gone 


backward.  The  modern  conveniences,  that 
have  come  to  him,  have  been  of  advant- 
age to  him  individually,  but  it  is  ques- 
tionable whether  they  have  aided  in  any 
way  to  build  up  the  community  in  which 
he  lives.  The  free  mail  delivery  brings 
him  in  closer  touch  with  the  outside 
world,  but  it  does  not  often  bring  to  him 
anything  very  helpful  for  the  world  in 
which  he  actually  lives.  The  trolley  takes 
him  to  town  for  his  recreation,  and  the 
telephone  gossip  takes  the  place  of  the 
old-time  neighborhood  visits.  The  chief 
influence  of  these  things  seems  to  be  to 
make  him  more  independent  of  his 
immediate  surroundings,  whereas  what 
he  needs  is,  to  be  thrown  back  upon  them 
more,  so  that  he  will  take  the  trouble  to 
make  them  more  attractive  and  service- 
able. 

The  problem  of  the  country  is  no  long- 
er chiefly,  whether  one  can  make  a  living 
there,  it  is  rather,  can  life  be  made  as 
rich  and  full,  as  well  worth  while,  in  the 
country,  as  the  needs  of  true  human  life 
demand?  Can  the  life  on  the  farm  be 
made  to  contribute  to  the  well-being  of 
man  as  is  demanded  by  the  best  interests 
of  that  life.  This  has  not  been  done,  and 
is  not  now  being  done  as  a  rule.  Country 
life  is  fatally  at  fault  at  this  point.  Life 
on  the  farm  is  usually  a  weary  round  of 
toil  with  few  things  to  quicken  the  social 


or  the  intellectual  nature.  If  these  things 
are  felt  to  be  needed,  by  any  one  then 
the  natural  thing  has  been  to  look  beyond 
the  country  for  them,  to  the  city  or  the 
large  town.  The  fact  that  the  farmer  is 
now  able  to  go  to  the  city  for  his  pleas- 
ures, has  been  hailed  by  him  and  his 
friends  as  the  dawning  of  a  better  day. 
The  result  is,  however,  that  there  is  no 
serious  attempt  being  made  to  supply 
these  things  in  the  community  in  which 
he  lives  and  as  a  consequence  the  rural 
community  has  suffered  in  its  common 
life,  social  institutions  have  fallen  into  a 
state  of  decay,  the  church  along  with  the 
rest  of  them. 

^^'hile  we  recognize  that  there  has  been 
a  lack  of  attention  to  the  social  side 
of  his  life,  we  must  not  conclude  that  the 
farmer  himself  has  not  changed,  for  he 
has.  We  must  not  overlook  this  fact. 
\Yq  need  to  clearly  perceive  that  the 
country  church  is  confronted  by  a  new 
situation.  The  old  days  are  gone  and 
they  will  never  return.  There  is  material 
in  the  country  for  strong  and  vigorous 
churches,  but  they  will  not  be  like  the 
churches  of  the  fathers.  The  people  of 
the  country  have  not  been  standing  still 
all  these  stirring  times.  They  are  a  new 
people  and  will  have  to  be  appealed  to  in 
a  new  way,  different  from  that  to  which 
their  fathers  responded  so  well. 


The  farmer  has  participated  more  or 
less  in  the  change  that  has  come  over  the 
world  in  the  past  twenty-five  years.  Only 
once  or  twice  in  the  history  of  man  has 
there  been  such  a  revolution  in  human 
thought,  as  we  have  witnessed  in  our  own 
day.  This  change  in  the  way  of  looking 
at  things  has  found  its  way  into  all  class- 
es of  society.  All  people  are  not  clearly 
conscious  of  the  change,  nor  in  what  it 
consists,  but  they  dimly  feel  it  and  its 
presence  can  be  detected,  by  observing 
the  different  interests  that  appeal  to 
them..  It  can  be  seen,  too,  in  the  attitude 
which  they  assume  toward  many  of  the 
questions  of  the  day.  Religion,  as  well 
as  other  phases  of  life,  has  been  affected 
by  this  new  attitude.  While  in  its  es- 
sence religion  is  what  it  has  always  been, 
yet  in  the  way  people  conceive  it,  a  great 
change  has  come.  If  any  of  you  feel  in- 
clined to  doubt  this  statement,  turn  to  one 
of  the  sermons  of  Jonathan  Edwards, 
and  imagine  yourself  reading  it  to  a 
modern  congregation.  Now  the  farmer 
has  entered  more  or  less  fully  into  this 
new  thought,  he  shares  more  or  less  ful- 
ly with  the  rest  of  the  world  in  this  new 
outlook  upon  the  world  in  which  he  lives, 
the  world  of  religion  as  well  as  the  world 
of  nature.  This  has  been  forced  upon 
him  to  some  extent  by  the  new  method 
by  which  he  does  his  work.     This  has 


been  admirably  stated  by  Director  Bailey, 
(The  State  and  the  Farmer,  13).  In 
describing  the  changed  method  of  farm- 
ing, he  says :  ''This  change  is  even  more 
remarkable  in  the  farmer's  attitude  tow- 
ard the  reasons  that  underlie  his  work,  al- 
though this  shift  does  not  appeal  much 
to  the  popular  imagination.  His  attitude 
toward  soil  fertility  has  undergone  a  com- 
plete change,  so  has  his  attitude  toward 
the  feeding  of  animals,  and  the  treatment 
of  their  ailments ;  so  has  it  toward  the 
diseases  of  plants  and  toward  insects.  He 
speaks  a  new  language.  Even  when  the 
old  farm  shows  no  visible  change  in  ex- 
ternal matters,  the  farmer  himself  can- 
not avoid  attacking  his  problem  in  a  new 
way.  Butter- fat  is  a  reality.  There  are 
new  crops  on  the  land.  If  he  lives  in  the 
northeastern  milk-market  section,  he  has 
seen  the  red  and  brindle  cow  change  to 
the  black  and  white  ;  he  has  developed  the 
winter  production  of  milk  and  has  made 
the  silo  a  part  of  the  farm  scheme.  He 
has  a  new  conception  of  cleanliness,  as  a 
result  of  his  study  of  bacteria.  He  has  a 
rational  outlook  on  potato-blight  and  oat- 
smut  and  codlin  moth.  He  has  respect 
for  ideas  in  print,  because  the  ideas  are 
worthy  of  respect.  All  this  changes  his 
method  of  work."  And  all  this  changes 
his  attitude  toward  all  the  questions  that 
come  to  his  attention.     The  farmer  has 


not  passed  uninfluenced  through  the 
changes  that  have  been  going  on  in  the 
world  about  him.  He  belongs  not  to  the 
world  of  the  fathers  but  to  this  present 
modern  world  in  which  we  all  live.  Per- 
haps he  least  of  all  is  conscious  of  the 
change  that  has  come  over  him,  but  who- 
ever is  going  to  deal  with  him,  will  make 
a  tremendous  mistake  if  he  overlooks  the 
fact.  But  strange  as  it  may  seem,  while 
the  farmer  himself  has  changed,  and  the 
method  of  doing  his  work  has  changed, 
all  in  the  general  direction  of  the  world 
movements  about  him,  the  community  as 
such,  in  which  he  lives  has  not  shared  in 
this  general  movement. 

While  in  the  new  order  into  which  he 
has  come,  there  is  a  strong  emphasis 
placed  upon  the  social  side  of  life,  a 
clearer  recognition  of  the  fact  that  man 
is  not  an  individual  who  can  come  to  his 
true  estate  by  himself,  but  a  person  who 
can  only  come  to  his  best  in  social  rela- 
tions, by  the  help  of  his  fellows,  yet  the 
farmer  has  remained  extremely  individ- 
ualistic in  practice  at  least  whatever  he 
may  be  in  theory.  In  the  old  days,  there 
was  none  too  much  of  social  life  but  what 
there  was  has  been  allowed  to  disappear 
without  anything  coming  in  to  take  its 
place.  There  used  to  be  singing  school 
in  the  long  Winter  evenings,  where  the 
young  folks  could  get  together  and  find 


social  intercourse.  There  were  apple- 
parings  and  husking-bees,  and  barn-rais- 
ings, and  various  other  neighborhood 
gatherings,  these  have  all  gone  and  the 
average  farming  community  is  left  bare 
of  any  social  interests  at  a  time  when 
they  are  recognized  as  being  real  needs 
of  human  life  as  never  before.  The 
country  community  has  disintegrated,  it 
is  disorganized,  and  the  farmer  seems  to 
have  lost  or  has  failed  to  develop  the 
power  of  organization. 

In  this  general  neglect  of  social  inter- 
ests and  the  concentration  of  attention  on 
the  purely  individualistic  side  of  life,  the 
church  has  shared  the  fate  of  other  insti- 
tutions. Its  depressed  condition  can  only 
be  understood  in  the  light  of  the  whole 
situation.  It  has  not  failed  singly,  it 
has  not  suffered  alone,  it  has  simply  gone 
along  with  the  whole  movement,  the  ten- 
dency of  which  was  not  percieved  until 
its  effects  became  only  too  apparent. 

Now  while  the  above  statements  are  a 
result  of  an  inductive  study  of  the  facts 
and  it  can  be  shown  that  the  church  has 
actually  waned  with  the  falling  off  of  the 
social  interest  and  continues  weak  wher- 
ever the  social  instinct  has  no  opportun- 
ity to  express  itself,  yet  I  think  there  is 
a  real  connection  between  these  two 
phenomena,  that  they  do  not  simply  hap- 


pen  to  be  contempory  events  but  there  is 
a  logical  connection  between  them. 
Religion  itself  is  very  closely  allied  to 
the  family  and  social  life.  The  religious 
feelings  are  intimately  related  to  the  feel- 
ings aroused  through  social  intercourse. 
The  yearning  of  the  heart  for  God  is 
not  unrelated  to  the  yearning  of  the  heart 
for  human  sympathy  and  fellowship. 
The  dependence  on  God  which  we  feel  is 
allied  to  the  dependence  upon  one  another 
of  which  we  are  constantly  aware.  The 
development  of  religion  has  been  condi- 
tioned in  all  its  history  by  the  social  life, 
especially  is  this  true  of  the  forms  of 
public  worship.  It  is  largely  the  social 
instinct  that  brings  people  together  for 
worship.  When  there  is  a  revival  of 
religious  interest  and  an  increase  of  the 
religious  impulse,  it  usually  seeks  to  ex- 
press itself  in  some  form  of  social  activ- 
ity. Hence  it  seems  to  me,  to  be  very 
clear  that  there  is  a  very  close  relation 
between  the  two  facts,  that  we  have 
found  to  be  contemporaneous,  the  deter- 
ioration of  the  social  life  in  the  rural  com- 
munities and  the  decline  of  the  churches 
in  the  same  communities.  The  church 
has  accompanied  the  community  in  its 
mistake,  and  shares  in  its  punishment. 
For  it  is  to  be  noted  that,  during  this 
time,  when  the  city  was  intent  upon 
social  betterment,  and  the  rural  commun- 


ity  seemed  blind  to  its  duty,  the  church 
made  no  effort  to  supply  the  need.  It 
too  appeared  to  be  oblivious  to  the  con- 
ditions which  were  growing  up  about 
it.  It  continued  using  only  the  old 
methods  of  work,  doing  the  same  things 
that  had  been  done  in  the  past,  blind 
to  the  fact  that  the  conditions  that  made 
them  effective  were  passing  away,  and 
also  blind  to  the  new  needs  that  were 
growing  up  about  them.  And  even  yet 
only  a  few  churches  have  come  to  see  that 
their  own  continued  existence  depends 
upon  arousing  some  sort  of  social  feel- 
ing among  the  people  among  whom  they 
work. 

If  this  analysis  of  the  situation  is  cor- 
rect then  we  have  the  line  indicated  along 
which  the  forward  movement  must  pro- 
ceed. If  the  welfare  of  the  church  is 
bound  up  with  the  social  condition  of 
the  community,  then  the  church  must 
for  its  own  sake,  if  for  no  other  reason, 
set  itself  the  task  of  social  reconstruc- 
tion. 

This  same  conclusion  can  be  arrived  at 
from  another  point  of  view  with  equal 
force.  The  function  of  the  church  is  to 
build  up  the  life  of  the  community  in 
every  way  possible.  It  is  to  co-operate 
with  God  in  all  his  endeavor  for  the  wel- 
fare of  men.  Every  activity  for  the  bet- 
terment of  man  lies  within  its  sphere. 


The  church  should  be  behind  every 
movement  for  the  good  of  the  world, 
directly,  if  no  other  agency  is  doing  the 
work ;  indirectly  by  sympathy  and  co-op- 
eration if  some  other  organization  is  do- 
ing the  thing  that  needs  to  be  done.  Now 
all  students  of  the  rural  problem  are 
agreed  that  country  life  needs  the  spirit 
that  will  make  co-operation  possible.  It 
needs  the  cultivation  of  the  social  side  of 
the  farmer,  something  that  will  modify 
his  excessive  individualism.  If  then  the 
church  is  ready  to  do  the  thing  that  most 
needs  to  be  done,  on  its  own  field  it  will 
apply  itself  to  the  task  of  reconstructing 
the  social  life  of  its  community.  The 
rural  church  has  not  declined  because 
there  is  any  less  genuine  piety  in  the  pul- 
pit or  in  the  pew,  nor  because  the  lines 
of  work  to  which  it  has  been  accustomed 
have  been  pushed  with  any  less  fervor  or 
consecration,  but  because  the  conditions 
under  which  these  methods  of  work  are 
effective  no  longer  exist.  A  strong 
church  cannot  develop  in  a  place  where 
there  is  merely  a  collection  of  individuals. 
It  needs  the  social  bond. 

This  being  so  the  task  of  the  country 
church,  as  I  conceive  it,  is  to  reconstruct 
the  social  life  of  the  community  in  which 
it  finds  itself.  Not  to  redouble  its  efforts 
along  the  old  lines,  but  rather  to  face  a 
new  task,  new  for  the  country  church  of 


recent  years,  but  not  new  in  the  history 
of  the  church  in  the  early  days  of  Amer- 
ica. In  the  days  of  the  Puritans,  back 
to  which  we  look  as  to  the  golden  days 
of  the  rural  church,  we  find  that  the 
church  was  the  social  leader,  the  influence 
that  moulded  the  public  life  of  the  early 
township  as  well  as  of  the  state.  So  it 
is  not  a  new  task  but  it  is  under  new 
conditions,  and  must  be  met  with  new 
methods,  methods  that  are  adapted  to  the 
new  thought  of  the  age  that  confronts  us. 

This  task,  of  reconstructing  the  rural 
community  is  one  for  which  the  church 
is  especially  fitted.  It  is  of  the  very  es- 
sence of  the  Gospel,  and  needs  for  its 
accomplishment  the  spirit  of  the  Christ. 

It  sounds  like  a  formidable  undertak- 
ing, to  talk  of  a  church  setting  itself 
the  task  of  reconstructing  the  social  life 
of  a  community,  and  it  is  in  one  way, 
it  is  a  man's  job,  it  requires  tact,  patience, 
perseverance,  and  some  degree  of  the  in- 
itiative. But  it  is  not  an  undertaking 
that  demands  a  large  outlay  of  money 
nor  the  introduction  of  agencies  not 
already  engaged  in  the  ordinary  church 
w^ork.  It  calls  merely  for  a  new  direc- 
tion of  these  forces.  It  is  a  matter  that 
cannot  be  forced  nor  that  can  be  foisted 
on  a  people,  it  must  grow  up  naturally 
out  of  the  situation.  Some  real  and  ob- 
vious need  must  be  supplied  out  of  the 


resources  latent  in  the  place.  Whatever 
is  done  must  be  done  with  the  material 
at  hand.  The  farmer  is  not  an  object  of 
charity  nor  is  there  any  necessity  of  out- 
side aid,  it  would  not  be  of  any  per- 
manent good  if  it  were  provided.  One 
thing  the  situation  does  need  and  that  is 
a  leader.  There  are  few  leaders  in  the 
country,  few  men  who  have  won  recog- 
nition for  themselves  so  that  they  can 
wield  an  influence  over  their  fellows  such 
as  this  movement  requires.  The  farmer 
is  of  all  men  hard  to  lead,  his  isolation, 
his  independence,  his  extreme  individual- 
ism, makes  him  suspicious  of  all  at- 
tempts at  combination  under  the  leader- 
ship of  another.  This  very  thing  has 
prevented  the  farmer  from  forming  com- 
binations by  means  of  which  he  could 
make  his  influence  felt  and  secure  for 
himself  the  recognition  which  his  num- 
bers and  place  in  the  world  deserve. 
Now  the  church  has  the  power  to  bring 
a  man  into  the  community,  who  has  been 
trained  in  leadership,  or  who  should  be 
so  trained.  He  is  given  a  place  in  the 
community  where  he  can  win  for  himself 
the  place  of  leadership,  without  arousing 
suspicion  or  serious  opposition.  To  him 
in  a  peculiar  way  belongs  the  task  of 
leading  in  the  reconstruction  of  the  rural 
community  and  the  fate  of  the  country 
church  is  largely  in  his  hands. 


In  making  this  statement  of  the  condi- 
tions of  the  rural  church  problem,  I  have 
confined  attention  to  one  element  of  the 
situation  because  I  feel  it  is  the  central 
thing  in  the  whole  matter.  I  am  not  for- 
getting that  the  ministry  of  the  church 
is  a  spiritual  one,  that  it  has  to  do  with 
the  religious  side  of  life,  my  contention 
is,  simply,  that  the  conditions  under 
which  the  specifically  religious  or  spirit- 
ual work  can  be  done  to  the  best  advan- 
tage are  not  present  now  in  the  rural 
districts,  and  that  the  decline  of  the  rural 
church  is  due  to  that  fact.  I  wish  further 
to  emphasize  the  thought  that  the  sphere 
of  work  that  we  call  religious  or  spirit- 
ual is  perhaps  broader  than  we  have  been 
in  the  habit  of  thinking.  That  it  includes 
many  of  the  elements  that  are  now  lack- 
ing in  the  country  communities.  Hence 
the  need  of  reconsidering  our  church 
work  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
needs  of  the  people  among  whom  we 
labor. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Factors  That  Determine  the  Efficiency  of 
the  Country  Church. 


By  Professor  G.  W.  Fiske  of  Oberlin 
College. 


Before  we  can  answer  our  question 
with  any  degree  of  satisfaction,  a  point 
of  view  must  be  agreed  upon.  We  must 
not  begin  to  discuss  factors  until  we  ac- 
cept ideals  of  efficiency.  We  must  first 
discuss  the  question  What  is  Country 
Church  success  f  Then  we  shall  be 
ready  to  discuss  the  ways  that  win,  and 
the  factors  that  must  be  made  effective. 

We  could  easily  trace  a  real  evolution 
in  the  ideals  of  country  church  efficiency; 
and  several  of  the  different  stages  may 
still  be  found  extant.  The  pioneer  type 
of  the  circuit-rider  church  may  still  be 
found  among  the  mountains.  Its  ideal 
of  success  is  very  simple;  a  monthly 
preaching  service  when  the  elder  makes 
his  rounds;  and  an  annual  revival,  or 
protracted  meeting,  in  which  the  leader 


"prays  the  power  down"  and  all  hands 
"get  religion," — presumably  enough  to 
last  them  through  the  year.  For  this 
kind  of  success  only  three  factors  seem 
to  be  essential,  a  leader  with  marked 
hypnotic  power,  an  expectant  crowd 
ready  to  respond  to  his  suggestion,  and  a 
place  to  meet.  But  real  results  are  often 
meagre  and  the  same  souls  have  to  be 
saved  next  year. 

^lost  churches  have  passed  beyond  this 
low  ideal  of  success.  They  plan  a  more 
continuous  work.  They  desire  something 
more  than  merely  emotional  results. 
They  appeal  to  intelligence  as  well  as  the 
feelings,  and  plan  definite  courses  of 
Bible  study.  They  appeal  to  the  will  and 
make  the  culture  of  Christian  character 
the  great  objective.  Such  work  is  vastly 
important  and  wins  our  respect  as  work 
worth  while.  But  a  still  higher  standard 
must  be  raised  for  country  church  suc- 
cess. 

A  few  weeks  ago  I  received  from  an 
ambitious  and  active  country  minister, — 
who  evidently  wanted  a  city  church, — a 
tabulated,  typewritten  statement  of  his 
work  for  the  year.  According  to  widely 
accepted  standards  it  was  evidence  of  his 
efficiency  and  the  success  of  his  church. 
It  gave  the  number  of  sermons  he  had 
preached,  the  calls  he  had  made,  the 
prayer  meetings  he  had  led,  the  Sunday 


School  sessions  attended,  the  number  of 
conversions  and  additions  to  his  church 
membership,  the  number  of  famihes  add- 
ed to  his  parish  roll,  the  number  of  peo- 
ple he  had  baptized,  married  and  buried ; 
the  average  attendance  at  all  services,  the 
size  of  his  Sunday  School,  the  amount  of 
money  raised  for  church  expenses  and 
for  benevolences,  the  sums  expended  for 
repairing  the  property, — for  all  of  which 
we  were  asked  to  praise  the  Lord.  It 
was  a  praiseworthy  record  and  on  the 
strength  of  it  this  particular  country  min- 
ister was  called  to  a  city  church!  He 
will  not  be  any  happier  there,  and  his 
salary  will  not  go  any  farther  there,  and 
he  will  probably  have  less  influence  there ; 
but  he  has  attained  the  dignity  of  a  city 
minister,  the  goal  of  many  a  man's  am- 
bition. Alas  that  so  many  ministers  seem 
to  forget  that  the  Garden  of  Eden  was 
strictly  rural ;  and  that  it  was  only  when 
mankind  was  driven  out  of  it  that  they 
went  off  and  founded  cities ! 

I  mention  this  case  simply  because  it  is 
a  typical  one.  We  are  still  too  apt  to 
reckon  the  success  of  a  church  in  statis- 
tics reported  in  the  denominational  Year 
Book.  The  book  of  Numbers  is  a  poor 
Gospel.  I  would  not  for  a  minute  dispar- 
age the  importance  of  adding  forty  peo- 
ple to  the  church  membership,  or  doub- 
ling the  size  of  the  Sunday  School,  or 


tripling  the  benevolences,  or  increasing^ 
the  congregation.  These  things  are  all 
splendid,  every  one  of  them,  and  indi- 
cate a  live  church  and  an  active,  conse- 
crated minister;  but  they  are  not  ulti- 
mate tests  of  a  church's  efficiency. 

We  shall  be  honest  enough  to  admit 
that  the  real  business  of  a  Christian 
Church  is  not  to  swell  its  membership  roll 
or  to  add  to  the  glory  of  its  particular 
sect  or  to  raise  enough  money  for  its  own 
support  and  keep  its  property  painted, 
nor  even  to  get  the  community  into  the 
church.  The  business  of  the  church  is 
to  get  the  religion  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  into  the  community.  If  it  is  not 
doing  that  it  is  not  succeeding.  It  is  cer- 
tainly succeeding  just  in  proportion  as  it 
is  accomplishing  that ;  for  its  business  is 
to  Christianize  that  community.  I  be- 
lieve Dr.  Gladden  is  right  when  he  says 
that  the  test  of  efficiency  of  the  church 
must  be  found  in  the  social  conditions  of 
the  community  to  which  it  ministers.  To 
be  sure  the  church  may  well  emphasize 
evangelism  and  the  need  of  church  mem- 
bership. Let  it  add  to  its  strength,  in  or- 
der to  become  a  strong,  effective  organ- 
ization. But  let  it  remember  that  this  is 
but  a  means  to  an  end.  Let  it  keep  in 
mind  the  great  object  of  its  work,  to 
Christianize  its  community. 

I  would  say  then,  a  country  church  is 


efficient  if  it  not  only  gets  its  people 
"right  with  God"  but  also  right  with  one 
another;  if  it  not  only  saves  them  for 
the  life  of  heaven,  but  helps  them  to  be- 
gin the  heavenly  life  right  now ;  if  it  not 
only  furnishes  opportunity  for  the  wor- 
ship of  God,  in  simplicity  and  truth,  but 
also  proves  the  sincerity  of  its  worship 
in  deeds  of  Christian  service;  if  it  fur- 
nishes spiritual  vision  and  power,  faith, 
hope  and  love,  those  unseen  things  that 
are  eternal  but  also  mints  these  essentials 
of  religion  in  the  pure  gold  of  brotherly 
sympathy  and  kindness. 

The  efficient  church  will  not  only  per- 
form the  priestly  function  of  mediating 
between  God  and  men,  until  in  the  holy 
place  men  feel  the  hush  and  peace  and 
power  of  God's  presence.  It  will  also 
inspire  men  in  a  practical  way  to  per- 
form the  duties  of  life.  It  will  in- 
crease the  kindness  and  brotherliness 
and  sympathy  of  men  and  women  to- 
ward each  other.  It  will  stimulate 
fair  deailing  in  all  business  relations 
and  put  an  end  to  injustice  toward 
the  weak.  It  will  help  to  reduce  pov- 
erty, vice  and  crime.  It  will  encourage 
pure  politics  and  discourage  graft.  It 
will  set  a  high  standard  for  the  play 
life  of  the  community  and  make  amuse- 
ments purer  and  more  sensible.  It  will 
even  endeavor  to  raise  the  level  of  prac- 


tical  efficiency  on  every  farm,  making 
men  really  better  because  they  are  real 
Christians.  It  will  help  to  make  more  ef- 
ficient homes  and  schools,  to  give  every 
boy  and  girl  a  fair  chance  for  a  clean 
life,  a  sound  body,  a  trained  mind,  help- 
ful friendships  and  a  useful  career. 

The  efficient  country  church  will  defin- 
itely serve  its  community  by  leading, 
when  possible,  in  all  worthy  endeavors 
for  the  general  welfare,  in  arousing  a 
real  love  for  country  life  and  loyalty  to 
the  country  home;  and  in  so  enriching 
the  life  of  its  community  as  to  make 
"country  living  as  attractive  for  them  as 
city  living,  and  the  rural  forces  as  effec- 
tive as  city  forces." 

In  a  notable  address  at  Oberlin  Col- 
lege two  months  ago  Director  Liberty 
H.  Bailey  said:  **I  feel  that  the  center 
and  the  core  of  the  Country  Life  Move- 
ment is  essentially  religious.  Whatever 
your  theory  of  life  may  be,  every  soul 
must  begin  where  Scripture  begins:  IN 
THE  BEGINNING  GOD."  He  was 
right.  Fundamentally  the  Country  Life 
Movement  is  a  great  religious  movement 
for  the  redemption  of  the  land  and  the 
people  who  live  upon  the  land,  yes,  and 
the  redemption  of  the  nation,  sixty  per 
cent,  of  whom  still  live  upon  the  land. 
Shall  we  not  agree  that  the  country 
church    is    efficient    in   proportion    as    it 


serves  God  and  the  people  in  leading  the 
rural  forces  in  this  great  redemptive 
movement,  and  thus  brings  in  the  King- 
dom of  Heaven  in  the  Open  Country? 

Surely  this  matter  of  country  church 
success  is  no  simple,  easy  problem.  It 
is  complex  enough  to  be  fascinatingly 
interesting.  Its  very  difficulty  is  begin- 
ning to  challenge  strong  men.  Let  us 
look  into  the  problem  and  see  if  we  can 
factor  it.  In  enumerating  these  factors 
which  in  my  judgment  determine  country 
church  efficiency,  I  do  not  undertake  to 
mention  any  but  the  most  essential.  The 
list  might  be  continued  indefinitely. 
Neither  do  I  mean  to  infer  that  many  of 
these  important  factors  are  absolutely 
essential  to  a  measure  of  success  for 
the  church.  Churches  are  fairly  success- 
ful that  lack  several  of  them.  It  is  a 
question  of  proportion.  They  would  be 
still  more  successful  if  they  developed 
these  factors  that  they  lack. 

7.     PEOPLE. 

It  is  very  evident  that  the  first  essen- 
tial factor  is  PEOPLE.  One  reason 
some  earnest  ministers  prefer  to  work  in 
the  city  is  because  there  are  more  people 
there.  A  congregation  to  lead  in  worship 
and  to  inspire  with  ideals  for  Christian 
service  is  quite  essential.  A  minister 
must  have  people  to  whom  to  minister. 


Church  can  live  without  bells,  organs, 
pulpits,  fine  architecture,  or  even  minis- 
ters for  awhile.  We  can  sing  without 
hymn  books  or  choir;  pray  without  mis- 
sal, prayer  book  or  surplice;  worship 
comfortably  without  cushions  or  carpets; 
commune  without  silver  plates  or  golden 
chalices  or  individual  glasses;  baptize 
without  any  baptistery ;  and  pay  the  min- 
ister "in  kind"  instead  of  money!  The 
one  thing  which  is  the  sine  qua  non  is  a 
congregation.  The  church  must  have 
people. 

This  does  not  mean  that  success  will 
depend  upon  great  numbers,  though  de- 
pleted numbers  cause  serious  discourage- 
ment. A  country  minister  has  a  splendid 
chance  for  a  thorough,  intensive  work 
with  individuals  and  families,  which  is 
denied  a  pastor  with  a  larger  flock.  Yet 
the  churches  must  have  a  constituency 
or  it  is  not  needed  and  of  course  cannot 
succeed. 

2.     LOCAL  PROSPERITY  AND 
PROGRESSIVE  FARMING. 

Some  one  may  say,  ''Why  haven't  you 
mentioned  first  of  all  the  blessing  of  God, 
as  the  great  essential  to  success  ?"  Sure- 
ly unless  the  Lord  builds  the  house  he 
labors  in  vain  that  builds  it.  I  am  simply 
assuming  this  as  an  axiom.  I  am  not 
enumerating  it,  for  it  would  not  be  a  con- 


structive  suggestion.  Our  work  must  al- 
ways be  done  in  partnership  with  God. 
Success  itself  is  tlie  evidence  of  His 
favor.  To  win  that  favor  we  must  take 
the  natural  steps  to  win  success. 

]Mv  second  suggestion  is  LOCAL 
PROSPERITY  AXD  PROGRESSIVE 
FAR:MIXG.  Dr.  ^^'ilson  calls  the  coun- 
tr}-  church  ''the  weatlier  vane  of  com- 
munity prosperity.'*'  It  might  be  more 
accurate  to  call  it  the  barometer,  for  the 
church  shows  promptly  the  degree  of  the 
pressure  of  economy  due  to  poor  crops 
or  bad  farming.  Impoverished  soil, 
poor  agricultural  conditions  and  bad 
farming  explain  the  failure  of  many  a 
country  church.  You  can  build  a  city  on 
the  rock  (^like  Xew  Yorkl  or  even  on 
the  sand  i^like  Gary)  ;  but  you  cannot 
hope  to  build  a  prosperous  country  com- 
munity or  church  on  poor  soil. 

Professor  Cars'er  tells  us  forcibly  that 
''the  world  will  eventually  be  a  Christian 
or  a  non-christian  world  according  as 
Christians  or  non-christians  prove  them- 
selves more  iit  to  possess  it, — according 
as  they  are  better  farmers,  better  busi- 
ness men,  better  mechanics,  better  poli- 
ticians.'" It  is  certainly  the  wisest  kind 
of  policy  for  the  church  to  help  to  make 
its  conmmnit}*  prosperous.  It  is  not  only 
a  fine  way  to  sen-e  tlie  community.  It  is  a 
prime  essential  to  its  own  ultimate  sue- 


cess.  Many  a  rural  church  is  languishing 
because  of  bad  economics  in  the  commun- 
ity. Let  it  face  the  problem  man-fashion 
and  do  something  besides  pray  about  it. 
Let  it  prove  the  sincerity  of  its  prayers 
by  earnest  plans  and  deeds  to  make  its 
community  prosperous. 

This  is  exactly  what  was  done  in  a 
certain  Wisconsin  village.  By  the  fiat  of 
the  railroad,  which  suddenly  changed  its 
plans,  half  the  people  moved  away  in  a 
day,  leaving  community  institutions 
maimed  and  everybody  discouraged.  It 
was  the  wise  minister  who  saved  the  day 
by  organizing  the  farmers  and  planning 
with  them  a  new  local  industry.  He  in- 
duced a  pickle  factory  to  build  in  the 
community,  provided  the  farmers  would 
raise  cucumbers  on  a  large  scale.  He 
was  even  able  to  turn  the  village  store 
into  a  co-operative  enterprise  which  suc- 
ceeded in  running  at  a  profit.  This  min- 
ister saved  his  church  by  saving  the  com- 
munity. 

That  prince  of  country  ministers,  John 
Frederick  Oberlin.  laid  the  foundation  of 
his  64  years  of  pastoral  success  in  the 
Vosges  mountains  in  the  new  local  pros- 
perity which  was  developed  under  his 
leadership.  He  was  utterly  unable  to 
succeed  until  he  had  taught  his  people 
how  to  become  better  farmers,  and  thus 
to  rise  above  the  low  level  of  in  compe- 


tence  and  ignorance  which  had  kept  them 
almost  immune  to  religious  appeals  and 
had  kept  their  churches  pitiable  failures. 
His  astonishing  success  won  for  him  the 
official  recognition  of  the  Legion  of  Hon- 
or from  the  Third  Napoleon.  What  he 
was  able  to  do  under  great  difficulties 
could  be  done  to-day  by  thousands  of 
rural  churches  and  ministers,  if  they  de- 
termined to  do  it.  Let  them  first  make 
their  community  prosperous;  then  their 
church  will  share  the  prosperity. 
J.  Community  Socialisation. 
Prosperous  and  happy  rural  commun- 
ities have  outgrown  the  selfish  independ- 
ence of  the  pioneer  past  and  have  learned 
how  to  live  together  effectively  in  a  so- 
cially co-operative  way.  But  a  great 
many  rural  places  are  still  scourged  by 
grudges  and  feuds  and  other  evidences 
of  individualism  gone  to  seed.  This  ac- 
counts also  for  many  small  churches,  the 
result  of  church  quarrels.  Many  coun- 
try churches  cannot  succeed  until  the 
people  learn  how  to  live  together  peace- 
ably and  effectively,  to  co-operate  in  all 
details  of  the  community  life,  to  utilize 
the  various  social  means  for  community 
welfare.  To  be  sure  the  church  can 
greatly  help  in  this  socializing  process. 
It  can  lead  in  making  the  local  life  co- 
operative, educationally,  agriculturally, 
socially,  morally;  and,  if  it  succeeds,  it 


I 


will  be  the  first  to  reap  the  rewards  of  a 
finer  comradship. 

4.     A  Community-Seri'ing  Spirit. 

Many  a  country  church  is  dying  from 
sheer  selfishness.  The  same  of  course  is 
true  in  the  city.  Many  people  doubtless 
think  the  church  exists  for  the  benefit  of 
its  members  only.  If  this  were  true,  the 
church  would  be  simply  a  club.  Selfish- 
ness is  slow  suicide  for  an  individual.  It 
is  equally  so  for  a  church.  A  self-serving 
spirit  in  a  church  is  contrary  to  the  spirit 
of  Jesus  and  it  kills  the  church  life.  It 
is  a  bad  thing  for  a  church  to  have  the 
reputation  for  working  constantly  just  to 
keep  its  head  above  water,  struggling  to 
keep  alive,  just  to  go  through  the  mo- 
tions of  religious  activity,  yet  making 
no  progress.  Many  a  church  is  dying 
simply  for  lack  of  a  good  reason  for  be- 
ing. Can  you  not  hear  the  voice  of  the 
Master  saying  "The  church  that  would 
save  its  life  shall  lose  it ;  but  the  church 
that  is  willing  to  lose  its  life,  for  my 
sake,  the  same  shall  save  it." 

Let  the  church  adjust  its  progress  to  a 
larger  radius.  Let  it  be  a  community- 
wide  program.  If  there  are  other 
churches,  it  will  of  course  not  invade  the 
homes  of  families  under  their  care.  But 
aside  from  this,  it  will  plan  its  work  to 
reach  out  to  all  neglected  individuals  as 


well  as  to  serve  all  social  and  moral  in- 
terests of  the  community  as  a  whole.  Let 
its  motto  be  "We  seek  not  yours  but  you." 
The  church  will  not  be  able  to  save  the 
community  until  its  proves  its  willing- 
ness to  sacrifice  for  the  sake  of  the  com- 
munity. 

5.  A  Broad  Vision  of  Service  and  Pro- 
gram of  Usefulness. 
This  next  factor  making  for  efficiency 
is  very  closely  related  to  the  last.  A  use- 
ful country  church  will  not  die.  A  church 
that  is  really  serving  its  community  in 
vital  ways  will  so  win  the  appreciation 
of  the  people  that  they  will  support  it 
because  they  love  it.  Some  churches  and 
ministers  are  too  proud  to  include  in  their 
program  anything  but  preaching,  pray- 
ing, hymn-singing,  with  an  occasional 
funeral,  wedding  and  baked-bean  supper 
to  break  the  monotony.  In  a  social  age 
like  this,  with  multiplying  human  needs 
such  a  church  is  on  the  way  to  death. 
The  church  must  recognize  its  responsi- 
bility, as  its  Master  recognized  it,  to  meet 
all  the  human  needs  of  its  people.  Many 
country  communities  with  meager  social 
equipment,  often  with  manifold  human 
needs  absolutely  unmet,  demand  the 
broadest  kind  of  brotherly  service  on  the 
part  of  the  church,  for  their  mutual  good. 
The  church  need  not  do  everything  itself 
as  an  institution.    Its  work  will  ever  be 


the  work  of  inspiration.  But  where 
there  are  serious  gaps  in  the  social  struc- 
ture, the  church  must  somehow  fill  the 
gaps.  It  must  do  the  work  or  get  it  done. 
It  rejoices  us  to  find  many  churches 
all  along  the  country  side  to-day  that 
have  welcomed  this  great  opportunity  for 
broad  usefulness.  We  all  know  how 
spendidly  Mr.  McNutt  and  his  church 
in  Illinois  have  illustrated  this,  and  have 
gained  a  new  vitality  and  an  increasing 
success  by  facing  all  the  needs  of  the 
community  and  broadening  their  vision 
and  program  of  service  accordingly. 

6.     United  Christian  Forces  in  the 
Community. 

We  are  confronted  now  by  one  of  the 
most  serious  factors  in  our  problem.  The 
pitiable  sub-division  of  rural  Christen- 
dom into  petty  little  struggling,  compet- 
ing churches  makes  religion  a  laughing- 
stock and  a  failure.  We  are  saddened 
by  it.  We  ought  to  get  so  ashamed  of  it 
that  we  will  stop  it !  Many  men  of  lead- 
ership and  influence  are  working  on  the 
problem  and  we  can  see  improvement  in 
many  directions. 

Wasteful  sectarianism  is  a  sin  in  the 
city ;  but  it  is  a  crime  in  the  country.  It 
is  a  city  luxury  which  may  be  justified 
perhaps  where  there  is  a  wealth  of  peo- 
ple ;  but  it  is  as  out  of  place  among  the 


farms  as  sheet  asphalt  pavements  or 
pink  satin  dancing  pumps.  Sectarianism 
is  not  religion.  It  is  merely  selfishness  in 
religion.  A  sincere  country  Christian 
will  be  willing  to  sacrifice  his  sectarian 
preference  as  a  city  luxury  which  the 
country  cannot  afford. 

Blessed  is  the  rural  community  that 
has  but  one  church.  Where  there  are 
several  churches,  let  them  work  together 
as  closely  as  possible.  They  should  pre- 
sent a  united  front  agdm^t  the  forces 
of  evil,  in  an  aggressive  divA  optimistic 
campaign  for  righteousness.  Local 
Church  Federations,  and  township  or 
county  ministers'  unions  gn  atly  help  to 
develop  a  real  spirit  of  unity.  A  local 
federation  of  men's  church  brotherhoods 
which  unites  all  the  church  men  of  the 
township  is  a  splendid  thing  and  speedily 
puts  friendliness  in  the  place  of  suspicion 
and  enthusiastic  co-operation  in  the  place 
of  jealous  competition. 

7.     A  Broad  Christian  Gospel  in  Place 
of  Sectarian  Preaching. 

One  of  the  signs  of  a  decadent  church 
is  excessive  emphasis  upon  sectarian 
trifles.  When  adult  S.  S.  Classes  have 
not  studied  the  lesson  for  the  day  they 
fall  back  on  denominational  hobbies !  A 
holy  zeal  for  righteousness  costs  some- 
thing.    The  selfish  zeal  for  one's   sect 


I 


is  cheap.  The  countr>^  is  scourged  by- 
petty  sectarian  teaching  both  in  the  pul- 
pit and  in  the  Sunday  School,  and  the 
country  is  very  tired  of  it.  Ordinary 
mortals  are  simply  bored  by  it  and  will 
no  longer  come  to  hear  it. 

People  are  still  hungry  for  the  real 
gospel.  The  great  affirmations  of  relig- 
ion: The  priceless  value  of  human  life, 
The  reality  of  God  our  loving  Father, 
The  immortality  of  the  soul,  The  law  of 
the  harvest,  The  gospel  of  a  Savior,  etc., 
still  challenges  the  attention  and  win  the 
hearts  of  men.  Let  us  emphasize  the 
great  Christian  fundamentals  on  which 
most  Christian  people  heartily  agree.  Let 
us  add  to  these  high  teaching  of  univers- 
al Christianity  the  simple  social  teachings 
of  Jesus,  his  every  day  practical  teach- 
ings for  human  life  in  mutual  relations, 
and  we  shall  have  a  winning  message  for 
the  sensible  minds  and  hearts  of  country- 
people. 
8.  A  Loyal  Country  Mi)iistry,  Ade- 
quately Trained  and  Paid. 

This  one  of  the  ultimate  factors  in 
our  problem,  perhaps  the  most  difficult  of 
all.  Leadership  is  always  of  utmost  im- 
portance in  social  problems.  A  splendid 
leader  often  brings  real  success  out  of 
serious  difficulties.  There  are  hundreds 
of  such  splendid  leaders  in  country  par- 
sonages to-day.     Some  of  the  most  not- 


able  illustraions  are  here  in  this  com- 
pany, and  they  deserve  all  the  high  ap- 
preciation and  cordial  recognition  they 
have  won.  But  when  we  consider  our 
70,000  rural  ministers  as  a  body,  we  find 
three  things  to  be  true :  They  are  miser- 
ably paid.  They  are  usually  untrained. 
Their  pastorates  are  too  short  to  be  real- 
ly successful.  The  churches  are  of  course 
more  to  blame  for  this  condition  than 
the  ministers. 

We  must  have  a  permanently  loyal 
country  ministry  for  life.  Making  the 
country  ministry  simply  the  stepping 
stone  to  the  city  church  has  been  a  most 
unfortunate  custom  even  up  to  the  pres- 
ent day.  The  country  ministry  must  be 
recognized  as  a  specialized  ministry,  fully 
as  honorable  as  the  city  ministry,  de- 
manding just  as  fine  and  strong  a  man, — 
possibly  even  more  of  a  man,  for  many  a 
minister  has  succeeded  in  the  city  after 
failing  in  the  country.  The  country  min- 
ister must  somehow  get  a  vision  of  his 
great  task  as  a  community  builder;  like 
John  Frederick  Oberlin  of  whom  we 
were  just  speaking.  He  must  find  an  all- 
absorbing  life-mission  claiming  all  his 
powers  and  demanding  his  consecration 
as  thoroughly  and  enthusiastically  as  the 
call  to  the  foreign  mission  field.  Then 
let  him  go  into  it  for  life,  determined  to 
do  his  part,  a  whole  man's  part,  in  re- 


deeming  country  life  and  making  it,  what 
it  normally  is,  the  best  life  in  all  the 
world  to  live.  Staying  year  after  year 
in  the  same  parish  is  the  secret  of  .-nic- 
cess  in  the  case  of  most  of  the  con- 
spicuously successful  country  pastors. 
Only  thus  can  a  man  really  become  the 
parson  of  the  village,  a  person  of  dom- 
inant influence  in  all  the  affairs  of  the 
people. 

I  am  aware  this  ideal  suggestion  of 
long  country  pastorates  meets  with  two 
objections.  Some  of  you  laymen  are  say- 
ing, *'How  can  you  expect  us  to  keep  a 
minister  after  he  has  said  all  he  knows  ?" 
And  some  of  you  ministers  are  saying, 
"How  can  you  expect  us  to  stay  on  lesf 
than  a  living  wage?"  Both  objections 
are  perfectly  valid.  Too  many  ministers 
are  untrained  men  and  therefore  fail  to 
succeed  for  more  than  a  year  or  two. 
And  certainly  an  underpaid  minister  can- 
not be  blamed  for  taking  his  family 
where  he  can  support  them  respectably. 

As  near  as  I  can  determine,  about  15 
per  cent,  of  rural  ministers  the  country 
over  (including  all  denominations)  are 
educated  men ;  though  probably  not  over 
5  per  cent,  of  them  have  had  a  full  pro- 
fessional training.  They  are  about  as 
successful  as  any  other  professional  man 
can  be  who  lacks  his  technical  training 
for  his  life  work.     There  is  a  great  de- 


mand  for  trained  ministers.  I  personally 
receive  fully  200  more  requests  from 
churches  in  a  year  than  I  can  furnish 
men  for.  Yet  the  theological  seminaries 
are  training  few  men  for  the  rural 
churches.  Most  of  the  graduates  go 
either  to  the  cities  or  the  villages,  where 
there  is  a  living  wage.  Dr.  Warren  H, 
Wilson  figures  that  a  country  minister 
with  a  wife  and  three  children,  in  order 
to  educate  his  family,  keep  a  team  and 
provide  $100  annual  payment  for  insur- 
ance for  his  old  age,  must  have  at  least 
$1,400  salary.  I  know  ministers  who  are 
able  to  do  this  on  less,  but  not  very  much 
less.  There  certainly  ought  to  be  a  min- 
imum wage  of  $800  and  a  parsonage,  or 
$1,000  cash,  for  every  minister.  A 
church  paying  less  than  this  is  simply 
stealing  from  the  ministers'  family^ 
Churches  unable  to  pay  this  minimum  liv- 
ing wage  ought  to  unite  with  a  neighbor- 
ing church  or  close  their  doors,  except 
for  itinerant  preaching. 

p.     A  Liberal  Financial  Policy. 

This  reminds  us  very  forcibly  that  one 
factor  essential  to  country  church  suc- 
cess is  a  liberal  financial  policy.  In 
the  smaller  country  churches  we  seldom 
find  any  business  policy;  no  plan  at  all 
for  the  future.  Their  short-sighted 
method   is   just   the   short-haul   on   the 


pocket,  and  inefficiency  of  course  results. 
The  most  common  plan  is  the  annual  sub- 
scription paper,  with  special  subscrip- 
tions for  repairs  or  emergencies.  The 
motive  is  apparently  strict  economy 
rather  than  efficiency.  It  never  pays  to 
run  a  cheap  church,  for  it  cheapens  the 
whole  enterprise.  More  and  more  the 
weekly-payment  pledge  system  is  coming 
into  use  and  with  it  a  careful  piaruimg 
of  the  budget  at  the  beginning  of  the 
year,  guided  by  an  earnest  purpose  to 
keep  the  church  business-like,  the  minis- 
ter promptly  paid,  the  properry  well  in 
repair  and  the  enterprise  spiritually  suc- 
cessful. Often  the  new  consecration  of 
the  pocket-book  has  been  the  first 
symptom  of  a  thorough-going  revival. 
10.  Adequate  Equipment. 
A  large  proportion  of  country  church- 
es are  simply  one-room  buildings.  This 
explains  many  failures.  In  order  to 
serve  the  community  at  all  adequately, 
the  church  must  have  social  rooms  for 
a  variety  of  neighborhood  purposes,  and 
it  must  make  provision  for  its  Sunday 
School.  About  four-fifths  of  the  boys  and 
girls  in  the  Sunday  Schools  of  America 
live  in  the  rural  districts.  They  should 
be  given  good  rooms.  Without  an  ef- 
fective building  for  social  and  education- 
al purposes, — a  parish  house  or  at  least 
a  vestry, — the  country  church  is  serious- 


ly  handicapped.  With  a  good  equipment 
the  church  often  becomes  the  social  cen- 
ter for  the  whole  neighborhood. 

II.     A  Masculine  Lay  Leadership  De- 
veloped and  Trained. 

It  takes  more  than  a  minister  to  make 
a  church  successful.  The  King's  Busi- 
ness requires  MEN.  Women  are  usually- 
active  and  loyal.  The  men  often  are 
just  as  loyal  but  less  active  because  of 
lack  of  opportunity.  The  most  enthus- 
iastic meetings  I  have  attended  for 
months  were  in  a  rural  county  in  Michi- 
gan, a  county  without  a  trolley.  The 
meetings  were  held  for  three  days  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Men  and  Religion 
Forward  Movement  and  all  the  45  Prot- 
estant churches  of  the  county  were  rep- 
resented by  ministers  and  laymen.  The 
laymen  outnumbered  the  ministers  about 
ten  to  one  and  they  showed  the  keenest 
interest  in  the  proposition  to  make  the 
work  of  religion  in  their  county  a  man's 
job.  Those  men  caught  the  vision  of 
service. 

That  was  two  months  ago.  There  are 
now  being  held,  every  month  during  the 
winter,  meetings  led  by  laymen  in  every 
school  house  of  that  whole  county,  carry- 
ing the  five- fold  message  of  the  great 
Men  and  Religion  Movement  into  every 
rural   neighborhood;    the    messages    of 


personal  evangelism,  of  definite  Bible 
study,  of  world-wide  missions,  of  social 
service  to  better  their  community,  and 
personal  work  to  save  their  boys.  This 
is  a  program  of  religious  work  for  MEN. 
Only  men  can  do  it;  but  men  can  do  it, 
with  a  little  training  and  wise  leadership. 
The  results  no  man  can  foretell.  But  it 
must  result  in  great  blessing  for  the  men 
and  for  their  communities,  and  new  ef- 
ficiency and  appreciation  for  their  coun- 
try churches. 

12.     A  Community  Survey  to  Discover 
Resources  and  Commimity  Needs. 

Wtihout  multiplying  further  these  fac- 
tors which  make  for  efficiency,  I  mention 
but  one  more.  Until  recently  country 
churches  have  been  conducted  on  the 
principle  that  ''human  nature  is  the  same 
everywhere,"  and  "one  country  village  is 
like  all  the  rest."  But  scientific  agricul- 
ture has  suggested  to  us  that  we  must 
make  a  scientific  approach  to  our  church 
problem  as  well  as  to  our  soil  problem. 
Country  communities  are  not  all  alike, — 
far  from  it.  Social,  economical,  moral, 
educational,  political,  personal  conditions 
vary  greatly  in  dififerent  localities. 
Churches  miss  their  aim  unless  they 
study  these  conditions.  There  is  in  prog- 
ress now  a  religious  survey  of  the  entire 
state  of  Ohio.    Quite  a  number  of  coun- 


ties  in  Pennsylvania,  New  York,  Mis- 
souri, Indiana  and  elsewhere  have  been 
carefully  studied  for  religious  purposes. 
As  most  of  my  hearers  doubtless  know, 
reports  of  these  studies  are  available  as 
guides  for  similar  work  elsewhere. 

The  general  purpose  of  the  survey 
hardly  needs  to  be  defended.  It  is  simply 
the  application  to  the  work  of  the  church 
of  the  modern  social  method  of  finding 
the  facts  in  order  to  prevent  wasted  ef- 
fort, in  order  to  utilize  all  available  re- 
sources and  minister  to  all  real  human 
needs.  It  augurs  well  for  the  church  of 
the  future. 

We  have  every  reason  to  hope  that 
with  the  progress  of  the  great  Country 
Life  Movement  the  Country  Church  will 
come  to  a  new  day  of  usefulness;  with 
people  living  under  modern  conditions, 
with  local  prosperity  and  progressive 
farming,  with  their  communities  well  so- 
cialized and  co-operating,  with  a  com- 
munity-serving spirit  in  the  church,  guid- 
ed by  a  broad  vision  of  service  and  pro- 
gram of  usefulness;  with  united  Chris- 
tian forces  and  decreasing  sectarianism; 
with  a  loyal  country  ministry  adequately 
trained,  and  sustained  by  a  liberal  finan- 
cial policy;  with  an  adequate  equipment 
making  the  church  a  social  center;  with 
an  enthusiastic  masculine  lay  leadership 
developed  and  guided  by  a  community 


survey  to  undertake  the  work  which  will 
best  serve  the  needs  of  their  people,  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven  will  surely  come. 
It  sounds  like  the  millenium !  perhaps 
it  will  be,  when  it  comes!  But  in  many 
respects  we  can  see  it  comnig,  as,  one 
after  another,  these  factors  come  to  stay. 
May  God  speed  the  day  of  the  broadly 
efficient  country  church.  It  will  mean 
the  redemption  of  the  country. 


CHAPTER  V. 

M^hat  Shall  the  Church  Contribute  to  the 
Country  Life  Movement^ 


K.  L.  Butterfield,  President  of  Massa- 
chusetts Agricultural  College. 


The  genius  of  the  country  life  move- 
ment is  people,  not  things.  Its  leaders 
believe  heartily  in  the  need  of  economic 
success  as  a  foundation  upon  which  to 
build  an  adequate  rural  civilization.  The 
status  of  our  rural  people  must  be  sat- 
isfactory from  the  standpoint  of  material 
goods  before  we  can  expect  it  to  be  sat- 
isfactory from  the  standpoint  of  class 
influence  and  class  success. 

But  the  country  life  movement  gets  its 
impetus  from  the  desire  of  the  people 
themselves  to  realize  the  higher  ends  of 
living.  The  welfare  of  men  and  women 
is  of  greater  significance  than  the  in- 
crease of  productivity  considered  as  a 
thing  apart. 

Now  whatever  our  religious  notions 
may  be,  most  of  us  will  admit  that  if  we 
are  to  seek  the  welfare  of  the  rural  peo 


pie  we  ought  to  seek  their  highest  wel- 
fare. And  we  will  admit  that  their  high- 
est welfare  must  be  the  outcome  of  their 
highest  aspirations.  Hence,  the  crucial 
test  of  the  country  life  movement  is  the 
quality  of  the  ideals  which  it  seeks  to 
realize  in  terms  of  the  welfare  of  indi- 
viduals and  communities. 

The  ideals  of  the  human  race  have 
sprung  from  any  sources,  but  a  Chris- 
tian civilization  can  hardly  ignore  the 
origin  of  its  idealism.  The  ideals  of 
Jesus  represent  the  highest  aspirations 
of  our  Anglo-Saxon  civilization.  And 
it  must  be  remembered  that  these  ideals 
have  been  conserved  and  cherished  and 
promulgated  chiefly  by  the  Christian 
church. 

It  is  possible  that  in  the  future  we  may 
find  a  better  idealism  than  the  Christian 
idealism.  It  is  possible,  and  indeed  prob- 
able, that  the  church  of  the  future  may 
not  be  so  exclusively  as  in  the  past,  the 
guardian  of  our  ideals,  but  at  the  present 
time,  we  have  no  institution  that  com- 
pares with  the  church  and  its  allies.  The 
Christian  church  is  still  the  most  effective 
teacher  of  idealism. 

The  logic  of  all  this  reasoning,  there- 
fore, is  that  the  church's  chief  contribu- 
tion to  the  country  life  movement  is  to 
furnish   adequate   and   satisfying  ideals 


for  that  movement.  If  the  country 
church  cannot  do  this  it  is  pretty  sure  to 
lose  its  hold  on  our  rural  civilization. 
And  conversely,  our  rural  civilization  is 
likely  to  suffer  if  that  institution,  which 
for  centuries  has  been  the  special  guar- 
dian of  idealism,  shall  be  no  longer  ef- 
fective. Let  us  consider  some  of  these 
ideals  which  the  church  shall  contribute 
to  the  country  life  movement. 

I.  The  church  should  contribute  the 
dominating  ideals  of  personal  life  in  the 
rural  community. 

1.  The  first  of  these  dominating 
ideals  is  the  ideal  of  righteousness.  Do- 
ing the  right  thing  is  fundamental  to 
personal  integrity  and  personal  growth. 
A  righteous  community  is  the  only  sane 
environment  for  a  righteous  individual. 
Righteousness  must  be  interpreted  from 
age  to  age  in  terms  of  existing  but  chang- 
ing conditions.  Probably  the  most 
fundamental  contribution  which  the 
church  can  make  to  the  country  life 
movement  is  to  interpret  to  the  rural  peo- 
ple day  by  day,  and  year  by  year,  line 
upon  line,  precept  upon  precept,  the 
fundamental  righteousness  of  life. 

2.  The  church  should  also  contribute 
as  a  dominating  ideal  of  personal  life 
the  thought  of  personal  growth  as  a 
great  duty.  The  church,  I  fear,  has 
tended  to  minimize  the  dignity  of  the 


human  soul  and  to  magnify  that  type 
of  humihty  which  would  make  mere 
worms  of  us  all.  The  human  soul  can- 
not well  be  conceited  as  it  stands  before 
the  mountain  heights  of  universal  mys- 
tery. The  summits  are  beyond  human 
ken.  On  the  other  hand,  what  excuse 
is  there  for  the  completion  of  a  human 
life?  What  hope  is  there  for  immortal- 
ity except  that  man's  destiny  is  to  grow 
eternally?  The  increase  of  knowledge, 
the  development  of  intelligence,  the  en- 
largement of  manhood,  the  gaining  of 
keener  insight  into  the  meanings  of 
things,  the  mounting  of  aspirations,  the 
enlargement  of  spirit,  are  the  only  things 
really  worth  while.  It  is  a  man's  duty 
to  grow,  and  the  church  should  insist 
that  the  farmer  must  somehow  find,  in 
his  business  and  in  his  methods  of  life, 
the  means,  or  power,  of  personal  growth. 
3.  Another  dominating  ideal  of  per- 
sonal life  for  the  rural  man  and  woman 
is  the  appreciation  of  the  rural  environ- 
ment. \\'hat  does  nature  mean  to  the 
tiller  of  the  soil?  Does  it  mean  a  fiend, 
an  enemy,  or  does  it  mean  a  friend? 
Shall  the  farmer  be  a  fatalist  and  accept 
with  weakened  will  the  chances  of  the 
weather  and  the  season?  Do  all  these 
processes  and  beauties  that  surround  the 
farmer  at  his  work  mean  anything  to 
him  as  a  human  soul?     Is  there  such  a 


thing  as  the  poetry  of  rural  life?  Does 
the  farmer  get  out  of  his  surroundings 
intellectual  and  spiritual  food?  Do  his 
surroundings  contribute  to  his  growth 
and  to  his  righteousness?  Does  he  un- 
derstand the  movement  of  the  stars? 
Does  he  appreciate  the  resurrection  of 
the  spring  time?  Does  the  winter's 
frost  preach  a  sermon  of  leisure  and 
meditation?  The  country  church  should 
enforce  the  lesson  that  out  of  his  sur- 
roundings the  farmer  must  get  joy,  de- 
velopment, aspiration,  growth,  right- 
eousness. 

//.  The  church  should  contribute  to 
the  country  life  movement  also  the  ideals 
of  brotherhood.  As  the  country  people 
live  together,  they  ought  to  live  together 
in  the  spirit  of  brotherliness.  This  means 
justice  in  the  dealings  of  individuals, 
kindliness  of  attitude  and  judgment, 
helpulfness  in  service.  The  personal 
life  cannot  come  to  its  full  fruition 
life  it  be  a  self-centered  life.  It  must 
have  a  neighborly  attitude  toward 
others  or  else  it  becomes  warped  and 
shriveled.  There  is  much  of  this  broth- 
erliness in  all  farming  communities,  but 
there  is  also  criticism,  censoriousness, 
bickering,  injustice,  unkindness,  selfish- 
ness. So  long  as  these  things  exist  the 
church  has  a  mission  in  attempting  to 
"break  down  all  prejudices  and  passions 


that  keep  men  from  the  brotherly  life. 
The  rural  community  gives  chances,  per- 
haps beyond  any  other  community,  for 
the  expression  of  the  brotherly  feeling. 
The  people  have  so  much  in  common. 
They  ought  to  have  a  common  instinct 
of  service  to  one  another. 

///.  The  community-idea,  or  ideal, 
is  rapidly  coming  to  dominate  the  coun- 
try life  movement.  It  is  an  expression 
of  the  thought  that  we  must  hold  in  mind 
the  common  welfare  and  not  merely  indi- 
vidual welfare.  It  represents  the  best 
good  of  all.  We  trust  that  ultimately  this 
means  the  same  thing  as  the  best  good  of 
each.  It  means  temporarily  that  each  is 
to  sink  an  apparent  good  in  order  that 
the  common  good  may  be  realized.  This 
community-idea  has  undoubtedly  sprung 
into  existence  from  that  spirit  of  social 
welfare  which  is  so  characteristic  of  our 
time.  Unquestionably  it  had  its  origin 
in  Christian  teaching.  The  church  ought, 
then,  to  contribute  to  the  country  life 
movement  the  very  highest  type  of  com- 
munity-idea. It  should  enforce  the 
thought  that  the  institutions  of  the  coun- 
try community,  like  the  school,  the 
grange,  and  the  church  itself,  should  seek 
the  welfare  of  the  community  and  not 
their  own  aggrandizement.  The  com- 
munity-idea leads  naturally  to  the 
thought   of   community  building  as  the 


great  purpose  of  the  country  life  move- 
ment. The  country  life  movement  does 
not  intend  merely  to  help  individuals  here 
and  there,  but  it  means  to  secure  thou- 
sands of  rural  communities  dominated  by 
the  ideals  of  brotherhood,  justice  kind- 
ness, helpfulness,,  peopled  by  indi- 
viduals whose  lives  ar  edominated  by 
thoughts  of  righteousness,  personal 
growth,  love  of  the  open  country.  On 
the  basis  of  an  intelligent  and  success- 
ful agricultural  business  the  country  life 
movement  would  have  erected  a  com- 
munity life  at  once  strong,  closely-knit, 
aspiring,  efficient.  Better  than  any  other 
institution  the  church  may  contribute  the 
highest  ideals  of  community  life.  And 
the  reason  for  this  is  found  in  the  fourth 
contribution  of  the  church  to  the  country 
life  movement;  namely, 

/[/.  The  religious  motive,  or  ideal. 
The  ideals  of  men  may  be  governed  by 
various  motives.  Fundamentally  most  of 
these  ideals  are  essentially  religious. 
They  all  ought  to  be  consciously  relig- 
ious. Country  life  can  hardly  develop 
to  its  full  proportions  until  the  people 
of  the  country  realize  their  partnership 
with  God.  The  farmer  deals,  at  first 
hand,  with  the  native  forces  of  the  uni- 
verse— heat,  light,  air,  sunshine,  and  the 
lower  orders  of  life  are  his  constant 
allies  and  companions.     His  whole  task 


industrially  is  to  manipulate  these 
forces.  The  church  must  preach  that 
these  forces  are  simply  God's  method. 
This  partnership  between  man  and  God 
is  absolutely  essential  to  the  continuance 
of  human  life  on  the  planet.  Hence,  the 
farmer  occupies  a  place  of  unique  sacred- 
ness.  His  vocation  is  founded  on  his 
partnership  with  God. 

But  the  same  religious  motive  should 
mold  him  in  his  efforts  for  community 
building,  because  a  righteous  and  friend- 
ly community  is  in  itself  the  Kingdom 
of  God  on  earth.  Just  as  the  task  of  the 
farmer  is  not  merely  to  make  a  living, 
but  to  live  a  life,  so  his  objective  is  not 
merely  to  feed  his  family  but  to  create 
righteous  and  friendly  communities  of 
human  beings.  Hence,  the  farmer  as  a 
member  of  his  community  is  also  a  part- 
ner with  God.  And  it  is  only  as  he 
realizes  this  partnership  in  the  double 
task  of  supplying  food  and  community 
building  that  he  gains  his  greatest  ef- 
ficiency, either  as  a  worker  or  as  a  man. 
The  church,  then,  should  constantly  hold 
before  the  country  people  this  religious 
motive  of  life :  namely,  that  the  farmers 
are  workers  together  with  God,  both  in 
the  work  of  the  farm  and  in  the  com- 
mon life  of  all. 

V.  Finally,  the  church  shall  con- 
tribute to  the  countrv  life  movement  a 


consecrated  leadership.  As  in  all  other 
realms  where  human  progress  is  involved, 
personal  leadership  is  the  key  to  the 
country  life  movement.  This  leadership 
ought  to  be  a  consecrated  leadership. 
Because  the  task  is  a  difficult  one  we 
need  this  consecrated  leadership  both  in 
the  pulpit  and  in  the  pew. 

Probably  there  is  no  work  lying  be- 
fore the  country  clergyman  that  so  well 
sums  up  his  opportunity  as  that  of  lead- 
ership in  rural  community  building.  He 
is  the  preacher  of  idealism.  He  is  the 
prophet  of  a  better  life  for  the  individual 
and  the  community.  If  the  church  is  to 
minister  to  the  righteousness  and  growth 
and  enjoyment  of  individual  farmers,  the 
preacher  himself  must  be  the  leader.  If 
the  church  is  to  foster  the  ideals  of  neigh- 
borliness  and  brotherhood,  the  preacher 
must  be  the  exemplar  and  leader.  If  the 
church  is  to  enforce  the  community-idea, 
the  preacher  must  lead  the  way.  If  the 
church  hopes  to  make  farmers  realize 
their  partnership  with  God,  the  clergy- 
man must  transmit  the  vision.  If  the 
men  in  the  pews  are  to  consecrate  them- 
selves to  the  best  leadership  in  the  coun- 
try' communities,  they  must  get  much  of 
their  inspiration  from  the  preacher. 

But  the  preacher  is  not  the  only  leader. 
The  farmer  himself  as  individual,  as  citi- 
zen, the  teacher  in  the  school,  the  house- 


keeper  in  the  home,  all,  in  fact,  who  have 
ideals  beyond  their  fellows  and  power  of 
personality,  must  become  leaders. 

The  country  church  movement  is  root- 
ed in  the  belief  that  rural  life  in  America 
must  be  made  more  prosperous,  more 
satisfying.  The  fruitage  of  the  move- 
ment is  to  be  determined  largely  by  its 
ideals.  The  church,  as  the  champion  of 
the  highest  and  richest  idealism  that  the 
world  has  ever  known,  can  contribute 
more  than  any  other  institution,  there- 
fore, to  the  richest  fruitage  of  the  coun- 
try life  movement,  by  promulgating  the 
dominant  ideals  of  personal  life,  by  cher- 
ishing the  spirit  of  brotherhood,  by  en- 
forcing the  community-idea,  by  cultivat- 
ing the  religious  motive,  and  by  training 
a  consecrated  leadership. 


CHAPTER  VI, 

The  Farme/s  Task. 


K.  L.  Butterfield,  President  Massachu- 
setts Agricultural  College. 


The  primary  task  of  the  individual 
farmer  is  to  make  a  living  for  himself 
and  his  family.  This  task  is  a  funda- 
mental duty.  The  opportunity  to  make  a 
living  comes  pretty  close  to  being  an  in- 
herent right.  The  machinery  of  civiliza- 
tion is  clumsy  and  poorly  adjusted  if  it 
does  not  give  this  opportunity  to  every 
man.  As  the  standards  of  living  change 
from  generation  to  generation  the  ques- 
tion,— what  constitutes  a  living? — will  be 
answered  differently ;  but  it  must  always 
be  answered  in  terms  of  reasonable  satis- 
faction with  respect  both  to  what  econ- 
omists call  "material  wants"  and  "culture 
wants." 

Furthermore,  the  culture  wants  of 
man  can  be  satisfied  only  when  the  mate- 
rial wants  are  reasonably  satisfied.  A 
cultural  civilization  can  be  built  only  on 


the  foundations  of  reasonable  material 
prosperity.  Therefore,  the  economic 
success  of  the  agricultural  class  condi- 
tions in  the  main  the  quality  of  the  more- 
spiritual  superstructure.  Better  farm 
business  must  precede  better  farm  liv- 
ing. The  farmer's  duty  to  make  a  living 
is,  therefore,  not  only  a  personal  obliga- 
tion to  himself  and  his  family,  but  it  is 
also  a  primary  duty  to  society.  He  must 
"pull  his  own  weight,"  as  Mr.  Roosevelt 
has  so  often  said.  He  can  contribute  to 
a  better  rural  civilization  only  after  he 
has  contributed  to  his  own  economic  suc- 
cess. 

The  second  task  of  the  farmer  is  to 
live  a  life.  The  only  rational  excuse  for 
making  a  living  is  in  order  that  the  man 
himself  may  develop  as  a  man.  If  he 
merely  makes  a  living,  or  if  he  makes  a 
living  at  the  expense  of  his  manhood, 
why  should  he  cumber  the  ground?  If 
the  farmer  cannot  both  make  a  living 
and  live  his  life  to  the  full,  there  is  mal- 
adjustment somewhere.  If  the  farm 
business  and  the  life  in  a  rural  environ- 
ment do  not  give  a  fair  chance  to  a  man 
to  grow  intellectually,  morally,  spirit- 
ually, to  the  full  stature  of  maniiood,. 
then  something  is  wrong  with  that  busi- 
ness and  life,  or  else  there  is  something 
wrong  with  the  farmer  himself.  No  one 
can  question  the  possibilities  of  a  coun- 


try  life  for  the  development  of  the  full 
man.  The  farm  business  itself  calls  for 
high  intelligence,  broad  knowledge,  keen 
judgment,  personal  initiative,  thorough- 
ness. No  man  can  be  a  successful  farm- 
er unless  he  possesses  all  of  these  qual- 
ities to  a  considerable  degree.  In  the 
main,  the  moral  incentives  of  country- 
life  are  good ;  and,  of  all  men,  the  farm- 
er ought  to  be  spiritually-minded  because 
he  deals  so  intimately  with  these  forces 
and  laws  that  we  believe  are  merely  ex- 
pressions of  the  divine  purpose  and 
method. 

What  the  farmer  should  achieve  for 
himself  in  the  way  of  personal  growth 
should  be  achieved  also  for  his  children. 
A  part  of  the  farmer's  task  is  to  bring 
up  a  family  of  children  in  such  a  way 
that  physically,  mentally,  morally,  they 
not  only  have  a  fair  start  in  life,  but 
have  also  an  unusual  start,  because  rural 
life,  rightly  lived,  is  the  ideal  back- 
ground for  the  education  of  youth. 

What  has  been  said  of  the  man  and 
and  the  children  applies  with  even  more 
force  to  the  woman.  I  have  come  to  be- 
lieve that  the  status  of  the  farm  home- 
maker  is  the  real  test  of  our  rural  civil- 
ization. Does  she  have  a  chance  to  live 
her  life?  Does  she  have  an  opportunity 
to  grow  mentally  and  spiritually?    Can 


she  do  something  more  than  help  to  feed 
and  clothe  her  household?  Evidently 
the  farmer's  task  includes  something  far 
more  than  merely  making  it  possible  for 
himself  and  the  members  of  his  family 
to  subsist.  He  must  do  more  than  this. 
He  must  make  it  possible  for  himself 
and  the  members  of  his  family  to  live 
a  life  that  approximates  the  ideals  of 
human  welfare  and  destiny. 

The  farmer  also  has  a  task  in  the  ful- 
fillment of  a  trusteeship.  Morally  he  is 
not  his  own  master.  Society  has  given 
to  him  the  right  of  control  of  a  parcel  of 
ground,  the  common  heritage  of  the  race. 
God-given  and  divinely  blessed.  But 
that  right  implies  obligations,  and  in- 
creasingly so  under  modern  conditions. 
In  America  we  are  rapidly  approaching 
a  time  when  the  non-producers  of  food 
will  exceed  the  producers  of  food.  The 
farmer  must  raise  the  wheat  that  makes 
the  bread  for  these  hungry  millions.  The 
old  ditty  is  not  mere  words,  "The  farm- 
er feed's  us  all."  City  dwellers  must 
have  good  food  at  moderate  prices.  The 
farmer  is  trustee  of  nature's  forces  in 
behalf  of  an  adequate  food  supply  for  the 
human  race.  He  is  the  steward  of  the 
Great  Husbandman.  He  cannot  live  to 
himself  alone. 

And  he  is  trustee  not  merely  for  the 
present  generation,  but   for  the   future. 


For  him  life's  fitful  fever  will  soon  be 
over.  Others  will  till  the  land  that  he 
has  used.  He  must  pass  on,  to  future 
generations,  this  land  of  his  with  fertil- 
ity undiminished.  He  has  no  right  to 
rob  the  soil.  His  obligation  is  not  only 
to  his  sons  but  to  his  sons'  sons,  and  to 
future  consumers  as  well. 

We  may  pass  laws  to  conserve  the 
natural  resources  of  forest,  water  power, 
and  mine,  but  the  greatest  resource  of 
all  the  food  plant  which  is  packed  away 
in  the  soil — can  be  conserved  only 
through  a  fulfilled  trusteeship  on  the 
part  of  the  man  who  tills  that  soil. 

Greater  than  the  soil,  greater  than 
food  and  clothing,  are  the  man  and 
woman  whose  task  it  is  to  raise  the  food 
and  provide  the  raw  materials  for  the 
clothing.  The  farmers  must  live  togeth- 
er in  communities.  These  communities 
form  an  important  part  of  our  common 
national  life.  If  that  national  life  is  to 
be  thoroughly  wholesome,  it  must  be 
wholesome  in  all  its  parts.  We  cannot 
purge  the  cities  of  evils  and  still  have 
moral  sewage  carelessly  distributed  in 
the  country.  It  is  not  enough  that  the 
farmer  makes  a  living  for  himself  or 
even  that  he  lives  his  own  individual 
life  in  a  self-satisfying  way,  or  even  that 
he  realizes  his  trusteeship  of  the  soil.  If 
we  cannot  build  a  strong,  co-operative, 


alert,  satisfying  neighborhood  life  in 
the  rural  region,  we  have  not  attained 
the  levels  where  we  can  hope  to  dwell 
in  safety. 

In  order  to  build  this  strong  rural 
community  at  least  four  requirements 
are  imperative : 

1.  There  must  be  the  best  use  of 
every  acre  of  land.  Every  acre  should 
contribute  its  maximum  capacity  of  serv- 
ice to  human  need.  Every  acre  must  be 
so  used  by  the  man  who  works  it  that 
it  will  yield  not  only  a  reasonable  profit 
to  him  but  the  highest  and  fullest  satis- 
faction to  all. 

2.  There  must  be  co-operation  for  all 
good  ends.  No  neighborhood  can  live 
its  full  life  unless  there  be  present  a 
spirit  of  co-operation,  and  unless  peo- 
ple actually  do  work  together  for  com- 
mon ends.  If  the  individual  keeps  be- 
fore him  only  his  own  benefit,  his  own 
growth,  there  can  never  be  an  adequate 
rural  life.  In  order  to  have  a  highly  de- 
veloped community,  there  must  be  a  com- 
munity of  interest  and  labor.  The  good 
of  all  must  be  conser^-ed  as  well  as  the 
good  of  each. 

3.  Convenience  and  beauty  must  play 
their  part  in  the  rural  community.  Con- 
venience in  order  that  unnecessary  labor 
may  be  avoided,  and  beauty  in  order  that 


the  rural  life  may  minister  to  the  high- 
er part  of  the  nature. 

4.  There  must  be  strong,  alert  institu- 
tions. Society  is  very  much  dependent 
upon  those  social  institutions  that  have 
come  down  to  us  as  an  expression  of 
common  need.  In  the  country  the 
school,  the  church,  the  farmers'  organiza- 
tion— each  has  work  to  do,  and  if  any 
part  of  the  work  is  neglected  the  com- 
munity suffers. 

Each  of  these  institutions  must,  how- 
ever, strive  not  to  build  itself  up  as  an 
institution  merely  for  the  sake  of  its  own 
prestige,  but  must,  in  season  and  out  of 
season,  strive  for  the  welfare  of  the 
community.  It  must  minister  to  common 
need,  develop  common  aspirations,  seek 
the  common  welfare.  The  school  must 
be  the  centre  of  knowledge;  the  church, 
the  centre  of  idealism;  the  farmers'  or- 
ganization, the  centre  of  class  power. 

Now  each  farmers'  task  is  to  do  his 
part  in  making  the  best  use  of  every  acre 
that  he  has  under  his  control ;  of  working 
with  his  fellows  for  all  good  ends ;  of  as- 
sisting to  make  all  community  life  more 
convenient  and  more  beautiful;  of  shar- 
ing with  others  his  time  and  energy  and 
money  in  maintaining  strong,  alert  com- 
munities. 

And  finally,  the  farmer's  task  is  to  help 
solve  the  problems  of  the  community. 


The  farmer  is  interested  in  government, 
not  merely  for  the  sake  of  the  farming 
class,  but  for  the  good  of  the  nation  at 
large.  His  attitude  towards  state  and 
national  legislation  must  be  governed  not 
merely  by  his  own  interests  but  by  the 
national  welfare  and  advantage.  The 
farmer,  in  common  with  other  citizens, 
must  seek  to  lend  his  support  to  every 
effort  that  will  make  for  justice,  right- 
eousness, and  peace. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

A   Sunday   School    Worker's    View   of 
Rural  Problems. 


By  Franklin  H.  Beckwith,  Field  Worker 
N.  Y.  S.  S.  Association. 


In  this  brief  article  I  shall  endeavor  to 
give  you  my  personal  deductions  made 
from  first  hand  experiences.  The  rapid 
growth  of  the  city  with  its  industrial  and 
social  advantages,  has  gradually  attract- 
ed the  young  life  from  the  farm.  These 
farms  are  now  occupied  by  old  people, 
by  those  who  take  little  or  no  interest 
in  the  religious  life  of  the  community,  or 
by  those  who  hold  different  religious 
views  and  refuse  to  co-operate  with  those 
who  are  struggling  to  keep  alive  the 
spark  of  religious  life  in  the  community. 

This  struggle  is  very  short  sometimes 
and  the  community  soon  becomes  ungod- 
ly and  heathenish.  Sabbath  day  dese- 
crated by  all  kinds  of  labor  and  sports, 
family  altars  neglected  and  the  Bible 
scarcely  ever  used. 


I  have  found  many  such  neighbor- 
hoods in  New  York  State  as  I  have  can- 
vassed in  the  interests  of  the  New  York 
State  Sunday  School  Association  from 
Lake  Erie  to  the  JBerkshire  Hills  and 
from  the  Pennsylvania  State  Line  to  the 
Canadian  Border.  Every  county  visited 
ed  has  one  or  more  of  these  needy  neigh- 
borhoods. 

People  living  in  such  communities  are 
themselves  largely  to  blame  for  existing 
conditions  and  yet  they  are  powerless  to 
work  out  their  own  salvation.  They  need 
a  missionary  or  the  influence  of  some 
outside  force  to  evangelize,  organize  and 
educate  them. 

The  denominations  cannot  lift  them- 
selves out  of  this  difficulty  unless  they 
co-operate  and  the  time  has  come  when 
the  church  must  co-operate  or  go  out  of 
business. 

A  union  Sunday  School  might  be  or- 
ganized which  would  give  temporary  aid, 
but  a  more  definite  and  permanent  work 
is  needed.  A  Sunday  School  that  is  a 
mere  moral  training  school  is  a  failure, 
the  school  cannot  profitably  exist  without 
the  church  and  every  officer  and  teacher 
ought  to  be  a  member  of  some  Christian 
Church. 

Best  results  have  been  obtained  where 
following  methods  have  been  used : 
House  to  House  Visitation  is  necessary 


to  discover  exact  conditions.  Informa- 
tion gathered  from  the  field  is  invaluable^ 
if  taken  from  statistics  it  is  very  mis- 
leading. Even  denominational  annual  re- 
ports are  incorrect.  I  found  a  church 
reporting  151  members,  when  actually 
they  only  had  91  resident  members.  Two 
years  ago  I  found  a  school  district  where 
there  was  only  one  child  of  school  age, 
they  had  no  day  school  or  Sunday  School 
either.  This  last  year  both  have  been 
organized  and  regular  church  services 
are  maintained,  all  made  possible  by  fam- 
ilies with  large  number  of  children,  mov- 
ing onto  the  farms. 

Evangelistic  Services  are  necessary  to 
revive  the  old  indifferent  Christian  and 
give  the  young  people  an  opportunity  to 
decide  for  Christ.  I  found  a  good 
Methodist  brother  that  walked  three 
miles  each  Sunday  afternoon  to  preach 
to  a  small  handful  in  the  school  house. 
All  efforts  had  failed  to  start  a  Sunday 
School.  His  predecessor  had  let  the 
work  die  and  the  field  was  abandoned. 
However,  after  this  brother  had  held  two 
weeks  rveival  meetings  he  had  sufficient 
officers  and  teachers  and  the  little  school- 
house  well  filled  each  pleasant  Sunday 
afternoon. 

After  the  community  had  been  thor- 
oughly canvassed,  evangelistic  services 
held,  the  church  and  school  re-organized. 


with  its  Cradle  Roll  and  Home  Depart- 
ment, with  good  superintendents  and  vis- 
itors to  keep  alive  the  new-born  interest 
in  the  homes  of  the  community,  and  ex- 
tend the  Pastor's  Parish.  After  all  has 
been  done  to  evangelize  and  organize, 
some  systematic  plan  of  education  must 
be  formed,  first  and  best  is  the  Denomi- 
national Literature.  Place  the  very  best 
in  the  hands  of  your  teachers  and  schol- 
ars not  only  to  educate  and  train  the 
present  workers  to  become  better  work- 
ers but  also  educate  and  train  the  next 
generation  to  successfully  fill  the  places 
rapidly  being  made  vacant  by  the  death 
of  the  faithful  pioneers. 

Then  an  Interdenominational  Associa- 
tion should  be  organized  in  the  township 
or  district  of  all  the  Sunday  schools  that 
can  easily  and  naturally  come  together 
and  hold  semi-annual  or  annual  meetings. 

Through  these  democratic  gatherings 
Pastors,  superintendents  and  other  work- 
ers are  encouraged  by  becoming  better 
acquainted  with  each  other,  discussing 
common  problems  and  learning  new 
methods. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


An    Inspiring    Example    of    Successful 

Country  Church  Work  in  the 

State  of  Illinois. 


The  address  given  by  the  Rev.  Mat- 
thew Brown  McNutt,  at  the  recent  "New 
York  State  Country  Church  Confer- 
ence, has  been  published  and  copy- 
righted, so  that  we  are  not  able  to  give 
It  in  full.  However,  in  this  chapter  we 
will  outline  the  work,  as  told  by  this 
very  successful  Rural  Pastor.  The  ad- 
dress in  full  may  be  procured  from  the 
Board  of  Home  Missions  of  the  Pres- 
"byterian  Church,  156  Fifth  Ave.,  New 
York.    The  price  is  5c  postpaid. 

The  DuPage  Presbyterian  Church, 
Plainfield,  111.,  is  one  of  the  oldest 
churches  in  the  state.  When  Mr.  Mc- 
Nutt was  called  to  this  church,  he  found 
them  quite  discouraged,  the  church 
property  in  a  neglected  condition  and  ev- 
erything badly  run  down.  The  pulpit 
"had  been  supplied  for  3  years  by  one  of 
the  elders  who  was  a  farmer.  No  one 
liad  united  with  the  church  for  5  years. 


I 


The  only  service  the  church  attempted 
was  on  Sunday  for  preaching  and  Sun- 
day School.  On  the  other  hand  the  peo- 
ple were  thrifty  and  wealthy. 

In  carrying  out  his  plans  he  undertook 
the  following:  Organized  an  old-fash- 
ioned singing  school.  This  proved  a 
great  *'hit."  Out  of  it  came,  a  chorus 
choir,  a  male  quartette,  ladies  quartette, 
an  orchestra  and  some  good  soloists ;  and 
in  addition  to  that,  it  improved  the  sing- 
ing in  church,  and  Sunday  school  lOO  per 
cent. 

He  organized  a  gospel  chorus  to  sing 
in  the  homes  of  shut-ins'.  He  encour- 
aged the  athletic  association,  that  already 
existed;  arranged  for  socials,  (not  the 
money-making  kind)  where  attention 
was  given  to  backward  youths,  and 
strangers. 

The  women  had  a  missionary  society. 
A  girl's  mission  band  was  organized  ;  also 
a  young  men's  bible  class.  They  conduct- 
ed a  lecture  course;  and  a  bureau  of 
publicity;  having  a  printing  press,  and 
they  issue  a  local  church  paper ;  while  as 
an  aid  in  spiritual  work  they  conduct 
services  in  a  grove  during  summer;  and 
in  school  houses  during  winter ;  and  in 
the  pastor's  absence  take  charge  of  the 
regular  service. 

They  have  the  pledge  system  of  finance 
for  local  work,  and  benevolences;  their 


ide-ol  in  nnances  being  ^  ?  - -g"S  from 
ever}'  nian.  woman  and  chid. 

Diiring  the  last  ten  years  this  church 
had  bcilt  a  Si  coco  church  ediiice;  re- 

n)c>deied  the  manse,  and  otherwise  iui- 
prored  th^  propertr.  They  have  in- 
creased the  pastors  salary  40  per  coit.; 
and  given  $5^70  to  benevolences. 

They  h^ave  had  no  evangelistic  services, 
but  ernploy  die  one  by  c«>e  m^hod. 
Gre^t  care  is  taken  to  press  ihe  ciaims  of 
Christ  on  the  yonng,  particxiiaiiy  so  in 
the  Sunday  school  classes,  Hier  have 
few  people  in  the  parish  over  16  years 
and  unde-  r:  ^-e;-5  ■-'■-:  ~-f  -r^  in 
church. 

They  h.sve  a  very  nne  n-:ccm  c:--,irch 
having  14  rooms.  Hie  underhing  prin- 
ciple? of  these  methods  are  summed  up 
as  the  church  should  be  a  ministerir^  m- 
stitunon.  It  must  serve  the  whole  man 
physically,  mentally  and  spiritually. 
Distribute  responsfDiIity :  and  get  eveiy- 
bodv  busv. 


Scotch  Presbyterian  Church,  Waddington,  N.Y. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

A    Splendid    Example    of    Successful 

Rural  Church  Work  in  New 

York  State, 


In  the  year  1908  the  Rev.  Jas.  Robert- 
son celebrated  the  25th  year  of  his  pas- 
torate of  the  Waddington  Scotch  Pres- 
byterian Church.  This  eminently  suc- 
cessful church  is  located  in  the  country. 
Its  membership  is  made  up  of  well-to-do 
farmers  and  their   families. 

During  the  quarter  of  a  century  the 
pastor  was  never  absent  from  his  pulpit 
on  account  of  sickness. 

During  this  time  310  had  been  received 
into  the  communion,  eleven  elders  had 
been  ordained  and  one  installed. 

One  hundred  marriages  had  been 
performed,  107  of  the  contracting  parties 
being  members  of  the  church. 

During  this  period  $32,500.00  had  been 
contributed  for  congregational  purposes 
and  about  $26,000  for  benevolences, 
which  with  $1 1,000  for  the  present  house 


of  worship  erected  in  1891  makes  a  totd 
of  $69,000.00  contributed  for  all  purposes 
during  this  period. 

The  Sunday  School  was  well  organized 
when  he  came  here  with  234  members 
and  19  teachers,  8  of  whom  are  now 
dead,  5  not  teaching,  3  in  other  churches, 
and  3  still  teaching,  namely,  Geo.  F, 
Rutherford,  Mrs.  Ruther  A.  Rutherford 
and  Mrs.  James  S.  Fife.  The  present 
grading  of  the  Sabbath-school  was  ef- 
fected after  the  erection  of  the  new  edi- 
fice, since  which  time  Miss  Gertrude 
Fisher  has  been  primary  teacher.  The 
teachers  have  been  of  great  help  to  the 
pastor  in  preparing  the  children  for  an 
early  confession  of  their  faith  in  Christ 
and  an  early  union  with  the  church.  Less 
than  six  young  people  between  the  ages 
of  12  and  20  are  unconnected  with  the 
Church,  whose  parents  are  members. 
Our  Sunday-school  comprises  the  entire 
congregation,  old  and  young.  At  the 
present  time  we  have  13  teachers  and  243 
scholars. 

The  pastor's  Bible  class,  which  met  on 
Friday  evening  in  the  early  part  of  the 
pastorate,  gave  place  to  the  Young  Peo- 
ple's Society  of  Christian  Endeavor.  The 
subjects  treated  in  the  Bible  class  were 
justification,  santification,  the  Lord's 
Supper  and  baptism  and  the  doctrine  of 


the  atonement.  Essays  were  written  by 
some  of  the  members  and  then  these  doc- 
trines were  discussed.  There  were  60 
members  with  an  average  attendance  of 
30,  and  two  of  the  members  are  now 
ministers  of  the  gospel. 

The  Ladies'  Missionary  Society  was 
organized  Aug.  11,  1885.  On  account  of 
the  congregation  belonging  to  Brockville 
Presbytery,  the  work  of  the  Society  was 
on  behalf  of  the  negroes,  supporting  a 
negro  girl  pupil  in  school.  In  1891,  when 
the  Church  entered  St.  Lawrence  Presby- 
tery, the  Ladies'  Society  became  an  auxil- 
iary to  the  Presbyterial  and  have  been 
interested  with  them  in  their  work,  name- 
ly, home  and  foreign  missions.  Their 
contributions  are  included  in  the  total  for 
benevolences  named  in  the  foregoing. 

Every  dollar  of  money  raised  through- 
out the  entire  25  years  has  been  by  vol- 
untary contrilnitions,  and  not  one  cent  by 
speculation,  such  as  paid  entertainments, 
sociables,  etc.  This  Church  needs  no 
Ladies'  Aid  Society. 

The  following  statement  will  go  far 
to  show  that  the  country  pastor  need  not 
be  isolated  nor  fail  to  win  recognition  in 
the  more  general  work  of  his  church. 

Besides  the  work  in  the  local  Church 
the  pastor  has  been  chairman  of  the  Syn- 


odical  Committee  and  by  virtue  of  that 
chairmanship  a  member  of  the  permanent 
committee  on  Snyodical  Home  Missions, 
and  a  member  of  the  executive  com- 
mittee of  the  State  Sunday-school  Asso- 
ciation. 

Besides  the  work  in  his  parish  the  pas- 
tor is  filling  a  career  of  unusual  useful- 
ness and  influence  in  the  activities  of 
presbyterial  and  synodical  association. 
For  15  years  he  has  held  the  office  of 
chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Synodical 
Home  Missions,  by  virtue  of  which  of- 
fice he  is  also  a  member  of  the  Permanent 
Committee  on  Synodical  Home  Missions. 
5  years  ago  he  was  appointed  one  of  a 
committee  of  five  to  revise  the  synodical 
plan  of  home  missions,  which  plan  was 
submitted  to  the  Synod  and  adopted.  His 
chairmanship  of  the  Adirondack  mission 
work  entails  a  large  amount  of  personal 
attention  besides  much  correspondence. 
He  has  been  a  member  for  some  years  of 
the  New  York  State  Sunday-school  As- 
sociation, being  chairman  for  the  fourth 
district  comprising  eleven  counties.  He 
also  is  secretary-treasurer  of  the  local 
district  S.  S.  Association.  None  of  these 
are  sinecures,  as  he  attends  faithfully  to 
the  duties  of  every  office  which  he  ac- 
cepts. In  1902  he  was  a  delegate  to  the 
International  Sunday-school  Association 
at  Denver  and  in  1903  a  commissioner  to 


the   Presbyterian   General  Assembly   at 
Los  Angeles. 

This  information  was  culled  from  a 
copy  of  the  Madrid  Herald,  mailed  to  us 
by  this  modest  minister  of  the  gospel  in 
response  to  our  request  for  information. 

But  to  show  the  methods  (which  were 
both  conserv-ative  and  spiritual)  which  he 
employed  we  take  the  liberty  to  quote 
from  his  letter  as  follows: 

"1  might  call  your  attention  to  the 
fact  that  I  rarely  allow  any  of  our  chil- 
dren to  reach  the  age  of  fourteen  with- 
out dealing  with  them  personally  in  rela- 
tion to  their  making  a  public  profession 
of  their  faith  in  our  saviour.  All  our 
evangelistic  work  is  done  by  hand  pick- 
ing before  they  are  out  of  their  teens. 

*'The  fathers  and  mothers  attend  Sun- 
day school  which  meets  before  the  morn- 
ing service  and  they  all  wait  with  their 
children  for  the  church  service ;  this  is 
the  secret  of  our  being  able  to  keep  young 
men  and  women  in  the  Sunday  school. 
We  have  children  attending  church  serv- 
ice who  would  cry  themselves  sick  if 
they  had  to  stay  at  home  from  any  of 
the  services. 

"Of  course  we  have  not  all  received 
our  wings  yet,  but  the  only  means  we 
use   for  their   development   is  just  the 


regular  Christian  work  of  a  normal 
church." 

Facts  to  remember: 

The  spiritual  Hfe  was  emphasized  rath- 
er than  the  social  and  yet  they  enjoy  a 
good  social  life. 

The  Doctrine  of  Atonement  was  kept 
before  the  people. 

Every  Dollar  was  raised  by  voluntary 
contributions. 

Parents  attend  Sunday  school  with 
their  children.  Young  people  urged  to 
make  a  public  confession  of  faith  in 
Jesus.  Personal  work  the  pastor's  method 
of  evangelism. 

Nothing  sensational  just  the  regular 
work  of  a  normal  church. 


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